Help with using silkspan for sail making

[clogger]

I’m having a go at making sails with silkspan.
I’m following the Sail making supplement by David Antscherl
My ship is 1/36 scale
I’m using medium silkspan.
I’ve applied about 3 coats of thin milky acrylic paint, but have discovered the paint doesn’t appear to have affected the reverse side as well. There is no mention of painting the reverse side. So I presume the paint should penetrate enough through the silkspan. Is it because I’m using medium silkspan? (Ther medium silkspan appears to be quite delicate tissue paper itself). I haven’t been able to obtain thin silkspan.
See photos

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

I’m having a go at making sails with silkspan.
I’m following the Sail making supplement by David Antscherl
My ship is 1/36 scale
I’m using medium silkspan.
I’ve applied about 3 coats of thin milky acrylic paint, but have discovered the paint doesn’t appear to have affected the reverse side as well. There is no mention of painting the reverse side. So I presume the paint should penetrate enough through the silkspan. Is it because I’m using medium silkspan? (Ther medium silkspan appears to be quite delicate tissue paper itself). I haven’t been able to obtain thin silkspan.
See photosView attachment 324761View attachment 324762View attachment 324763View attachment 324764View attachment 324765

Tom Lauria has a video on YouTube making silkspan sails: Making Sails from Silkspan
He paints both sides and shows you how to glue narrow strips that simulate the seams and overlap using wax paper and a clothes iron to anchor the strips in place. Paint cannot soak through silkspan very much, only the water from the paint. Once the paint dries, silkspan is noticeably stronger.

 

[clogger]

Darvis, Thanks for that. Ill check out Tom Laurias video. I think I will need a even thinner mix of paint?, or will need to paint the reverse side as well.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Darvis, Thanks for that. Ill check out Tom Laurias video. I think I will need a even thinner mix of paint?, or will need to paint the reverse side as well.

I would use thin paint and add layers only if necessary. It's the more careful way to go. Tom uses a roller to avoids brush strokes and blotching. You want to dope the fabric (strengthen it with acrylic paint which soaks in), not thicken it to the point of being smooth or it will look like.... paint. Watch how Tom Laurias can fold the silkspan after it's treated to simulate the stiff canvas furled on the boom. It's realistic. He uses pencil lines to simulate seam edges, and tiny strips of silkspan added for sail reinforcements. The sail won't feel like sailcloth in your fingers, but it will look like one. To me, sail making is tedious, but the results of patient work look incredible.

 

[clogger]

Thanks Darvis. I won’t be furling the sails. But I will use thinner acrylic paint and will simply, but carefully apply the paint to the other side. It will be quite a process indeed.

 

[Boatntrain]

Darvis, Thanks for that. Ill check out Tom Laurias video. I think I will need a even thinner mix of paint?, or will need to paint the reverse side as well.

I agree with Darvis. Tom Lauria's videos are excellent. He's wonderful teacher and does a great job producing his videos.

 

[bill36]

I’m having a go at making sails with silkspan.
I’m following the Sail making supplement by David Antscherl
My ship is 1/36 scale
I’m using medium silkspan.
I’ve applied about 3 coats of thin milky acrylic paint, but have discovered the paint doesn’t appear to have affected the reverse side as well. There is no mention of painting the reverse side. So I presume the paint should penetrate enough through the silkspan. Is it because I’m using medium silkspan? (Ther medium silkspan appears to be quite delicate tissue paper itself). I haven’t been able to obtain thin silkspan.
See photosView attachment 324761View attachment 324762View attachment 324763View attachment 324764View attachment 324765

Silkspan was originally designed (about a century ago) to be used with 'thin' nitrocellulose 'dope'; a 'paint' with no ground pigment. The Japanese have been using this material (in one form or the other) for a thousand years; (originally they used the secretions from the lac beetle, thus the name lacquer). Acrylic paint has ground pigment particles that were never designed to be used with silkspan. Acrylics are for applications that require a surface non-penetrating film; that is pretty much the case with all water soluble 'paints'. In general I would be surprised if you find any technique that results in an even acrylic coating on both sides. I have been using doped silkspan since the 40's; mainly for covering model airplane frames. I always felt that I was doing great if I could get the silkspan to survive a few weeks before it started to disintegrate. Silkspan is not a robust material. I would not choose silkspan for sails. When I make sails, I tend to think of the sail's lifespan to be of the order of at least a hundred years, not a hundred days. A good choice for sail material is hundred year old handkerchiefs; that's right, grampa's old 'snot rags' if you will. They have been washed a thousand times, the material is thin with wear with no fuzz and there is a good chance the cloth will be linen. You can buy them at garage sales, church bazaars, quilters fund raising sale functions, liquidation sales, etc. Over the years I have accumulated a banker's box full of them (at practically no cost) and have sewn a hundred sails. The linen material will last another hundred years easily; the Egyptians got thousands of years from this type of material. And! Occasionally you make a real find in that you can get priceless real table linens retailing for thousands (if you can find any real linens for sale at all) for a few bucks. Note - the linen cloth industry is now effectively extinct regardless of the product description hype you read on Amazon\eBay. These private sale type events are the premier sources for my sail materials and sail making tools (after JoAnn's stores).

 

[MikeC]

Furled sails I made over a year ago using Tom Lauria’s method are holding up quite well. I used artist’s acrylic straight out of the tube. Easy enough and a straightforward process. Fun, actually!