Art work on panels

[MCreel]

The idea of just a bunch of black panels (or whatever color, take your pick) doesn't sound so appealing to me.

I'd love to draw or paint on the fabric covers, or even find some cotton fabrics with pictures already on them.

Obviously I can't paint the whole thing - then no sound will get through it. But, I'm wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a good fabric to use for this. Is canvas too thick and not absorbent enough? Anyone know of a place that sells tasteful looking printed fabrics - perhaps pictures of guitars and drums or something?

Thanks

 

[audio_leak]

do you mean something like this??

http://www.gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel.html

i wouldnt waste time actually painting them if you want art on them.
but as long as your not covering large areas of the front of the panel any fabric paint should be fine for doing that.

plain colored panels can really make a room look great if you use a few different colors of material and place them around your room properly.

i have 4 corner traps and about 12 panels in my room, that are just black and blue and they look awesome when you use them in the right place.

 

[Dani Pace]

I had a similar idea. I discovered that an air brush and colored ink works great, especialy on lighter colored fabrics. It's a good idea to wash the fabric first so you will get a more consistant coverage. Loose weave cotton, lenin or muslin works well for this, avoid materals like polyesters and nylon. Colored permanent markers work well for simple designs and logos but an air brush is a lot more fun and much easier to get colors to blend.

 

[audio_leak]

I had a similar idea. I discovered that an air brush and colored ink works great, especialy on lighter colored fabrics. It's a good idea to wash the fabric first so you will get a more consistant coverage. Loose weave cotton, lenin or muslin works well for this, avoid materals like polyesters and nylon. Colored permanent markers work well for simple designs and logos but an air brush is a lot more fun and much easier to get colors to blend.

thats a good one, didnt even think of air brush or aerosol. i bet that comes up real nice.

a stencil and a can of spray paint would probably be easier for people with no experience with air brush guns or limited artistic ability, and its alot cheaper.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Just get the cheapest t-shirt material you can find...and try your hand at tie-dying...people dig my tracking area.

 

[moresound]

Or you could do a Jack Pollack and go hog wild splatter painting Quick,fast and easy. no rules just go for it and who knows you could end up with panels worth there weight in gold on the art circuit.

 

[MCreel]

Moresound - that's pretty much what I had in mind. I might try that to a small extent.

I found a few people who told me they could do airbrush stuff for me - but it was also expensive, so that option was not really a good one.

I found some good looking fabrics. Gonna work on them in the next few days and hopefully have some pics to show within a week or so.

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[Chili]

Be sure to experiment first. The wife and I tried fabric paint on some cheap polyester and it came out horrible. We did it after teh fabric was already on the panels.

 

[scott free]

My spot.

Hey,

If you haven't seen my spot, follow the link.
I show some of the process I used to build my panels and more.
I went for a more "Timeless" look I wanted to do something that I would'nt get sick of looking at over time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkddX-1viTI

Good luck!
Scott.

 

[dintymoore]

I made some speaker cabinets inspired by Charles Altmann. To spiff up a grille cloth, I made this stencil out of thick paper:

Here's the JBL recab I used it on:

After I sprayed the leaf pattern on, I used a tiny paint brush with gold paint to make a line along the top of each leaf to make the light dance.
It's easier if you just use some printed material like I did on this GK amp recab:

For material I go for 100% organic and use cloth, burlap, silk etc...
For smaller stuff I use old Hawaiian shirts.

The best material is burlap. I avoid anything with any plastic, like polyester, like the plague. Scientists will disagree.

There's fabric stores that sell stuff I use, but Goodwill stores are good too. Or old sheets with nice patterns are good plus they are generally nice cotton. They sell canvas drop clothes at hardware stores that aren't cheap but beautiful material.

 

[moresound]

Moresound - that's pretty much what I had in mind. I might try that to a small extent.

I found a few people who told me they could do airbrush stuff for me - but it was also expensive, so that option was not really a good one.

I found some good looking fabrics. Gonna work on them in the next few days and hopefully have some pics to show within a week or so.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Go for very bright colors so it stands out nicely, and they will fade with time..

 

[MCreel]

Cool work Dinty.

Scott, I had looked at your slide show before and liked your panels. Actually, I came across it as I was trying to get ideas for how I wanted mine to look. I watched the video and decided I'm probably just better off buying some particular fabrics than trying to be an artist. Although I can't avoid giving the painting at least one shot!

Agree on the bright colors and the practice runs. I gotta find some where to get good quality art paint rather than just fabric paint.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[dintymoore]

thanks MCreel.

When I did my stencil work, I used whatever spray paint I had around. Ace Hardware's house brand (Ace) is what I use a lot. Automotive spray paint is usually the best spray paint in a can you'll find, and most of the car parts places have lots of flavors, but it costs more than the Ace paint.

When I first did my studio I was on a "blue" kick. Now I want everything to be shades of brown. To me the colors matter to how I feel. Call me crazy.

So I think you have to make the colors right for you. I wouldn't get too anal about it but it is a nice touch.

 

[commanda]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Funky-RETRO-...mdZViewItemQQptZAU_Fabric?hash=item2a039bdf89

Disclaimer: these people have nothing to do with me. I was just looking for some fabric to cover my gobo.

 

[witzendoz]

I designed the studio at our local community radio station, link, we sent the ladies out for some cloth for the acoustic paneling and they came back with under sea (fish) image cloth. We laughed but used it anyway, it is now folk law around here and feels great when you are in the room.

Cheers

Alan

 

[dintymoore]

Nice Alan! What I like is that it doesn't look like a recording studio. To me the whole thing that most everybody seems to want in a recording studio is just so old! It comes off like "playing recording studio".

Ultimately, I'd like a studio that would give little or no clues that it was a studio... just a nice place for me and my friends to hang.

I still think lahala might be the way to go. It's a tree that they make floor mats and all kinds of woven stuff from, and it's got a great sound.

 

[Weasel9992]

As long as the substance doesn't block the space between the threads or create a shiny, reflective surface it'll be fine. We use dye sublimation in ours, but if you're handy with dyes, t-shirt marker or whatever, that'd be fine.

Frank

 

[MCreel]

Finished the first one. Never done one before. Seems like it worked out pretty well.

Instead of finding art work for all of them I just chose really nice fabrics for them.

 

[dintymoore]

Looks good!
Reminds me of Vox amps.

 

[mixmkr]

the Vox amp is in the wings....