197 replies to this topic

[mrose]

I can't quite seem to find which gun you purchased?

Here is my new baby.The GT-X2.

Oh yeah, the question was raised earlier about warm air from the turbine. I didn't find it warm at all and the colours I sprayed dried quickly.

Kerry

You certainly get all the neat toys to play with.

[cmflick]

I have a couple of questions about spraying chocolate and/or cocoa butter and temper. Does the cocoa butter that you mix with chcolate for spraying need to be tempered? I have cocoa butter that I bought from a cosmetic supply company (labeled food grade), that I don't think is tempered. I also noticed that in a post above, Kerry said that she wanted her chocolate/cocoa butter mix to spray to be at 50C, which is obviously not going to be tempered. Does this mean that you don't need to have tempered chocolate or cocoa butter to spray?

I got my first airbrush last month and having been playing around with spraying colored cocoa butters. I've been careful about not overheating the cocoa butters as I didn't want to get them out of temper. This has lead to annoying clogging of the airbrush. Do I really need to worry about the temper of the cocoa butters?

[Kerry Beal]

I have a couple of questions about spraying chocolate and/or cocoa butter and temper.  Does the cocoa butter that you mix with chcolate for spraying need to be tempered?  I have cocoa butter that I bought from a cosmetic supply company (labeled food grade), that I don't think is tempered.  I  also noticed that in a post above, Kerry said that she wanted her chocolate/cocoa butter mix to spray to be at 50C, which is obviously not going to be tempered.  Does this mean that  you don't need to have tempered chocolate or cocoa butter to spray? 

I got my first airbrush last month and having been playing around with spraying colored cocoa butters.  I've been careful about not overheating the cocoa butters as I didn't want to get them out of temper.  This has lead to annoying clogging of the airbrush.  Do I really need to worry about the temper of the cocoa butters?

I know this issue has been raised before. I never bother to temper, just heat then cool to the thickness I like the look of (especially for screen printing). Most times I'm probably around 30º or so when I spray.

[gap]

The guidelines I had at school were for ~34 degrees for spraying coloured cocoa butter and not fussed about tempering it first

[Kerry Beal]

I can't quite seem to find which gun you purchased?

Here is my new baby.The GT-X2.

Oh yeah, the question was raised earlier about warm air from the turbine. I didn't find it warm at all and the colours I sprayed dried quickly.

Kerry

You certainly get all the neat toys to play with.

I do like my kitchen toys. No real Christmas presents for the kitchen this year - except what I got for myself.

[John DePaula]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out. Kerry's results are most impressive. How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood. Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10! What a deal!

[mostlylana]

Wow Kerry - you're my hero - you're such a do-er! I am aptly named 'Lana' as backwards it spells '----'... and that's me. My husband keeps wanting to set up the guns and compressor and experiment but I can't until I understand everything! I'm getting there... It will happen...
I am so impressed with your results Kerry. Now I'm wishing I got that system. My gun has more gauges and regulators it seems. Can you control the cup pressure and air pressure to your gun separately? I can on mine but I need to find out what the max pressure on the cup is. The guys at the tool place scared me by saying too much pressure could blow up my cup! All of this talk about blowing up is unnerving. Cups blowing up with too much pressure, houses blowing up with compressors. Geez!
What kind of system are you getting John? The one shown at JB Prince?

[John DePaula]

Wow Kerry - you're my hero - you're such a do-er!  I am aptly named 'Lana' as backwards it spells '----'... and that's me.  My husband keeps wanting to set up the guns and compressor and experiment but I can't until I understand everything!  I'm getting there...  It will happen...
I am so impressed with your results Kerry.  Now I'm wishing I got that system.  My gun has more gauges and regulators it seems.  Can you control the cup pressure and air pressure to your gun separately?  I can on mine but I need to find out what the max pressure on the cup is.  The guys at the tool place scared me by saying too much pressure could blow up my cup!  All of this talk about blowing up is unnerving.  Cups blowing up with too much pressure, houses blowing up with compressors.  Geez!
What kind of system are you getting John?  The one shown at JB Prince?

Kerry is amazing. She hears about a technique and BAM!, there she is experimenting with it. I admire her. Me, I seem to take forever to get going...

I ended up getting the same system that Kerry bought: the Fuji Q4 Pro system + the Gravity feed pressurized gun. Also, got a set of the little bottles for different colors but sounds like it's so easy to change colors, may not be necessary.

[Kerry Beal]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

[John DePaula]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

Well, those look pretty good. The splatter effect is great! Are they as shiny as they look? Did you just use the molds at room-temp or did you warm them up a bit?

[Kerry Beal]

I ordered my setup last week and am really looking forward to trying it out.  Kerry's results are most impressive.  How did those speckled items turn out after unmolding, Kerry?

Went hunting for materials to construct a temporary spray hood.  Got lucky and found a piece of corian counter top that exactly fits my space - only $10!  What a deal!

Here's how they look.

Lana - hubby says the pressure on the cup is not independently adjustable from the gun. The only knob I played with was the incoming air pressure from the turbine.

Well, those look pretty good. The splatter effect is great! Are they as shiny as they look? Did you just use the molds at room-temp or did you warm them up a bit?

The pink and silver ones are even shinier than they appear in the picture. The molds were room temperature.

[Kerry Beal]

Check out the difference with these ones. This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour.

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

[patris]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

Are you saying there's something inferior about them? Because I think they're gorgeous.

You've also got me coveting that rectangular mold. Hanging around with you is dangerous.

[John DePaula]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

I think those look fantastic, Kerry. When you mentioned that you got a different effect if you didn't wait for the first splatters to dry, I thought it might be really cool. Is it possible to just spray air? I'm wondering how it would be to lay down some splatters and then hit it lightly with just compressed air...

[Kerry Beal]

Yup, you could do that - just spray with air to get them to spread out like this. I'm not really thinking they are inferior - just different. They kind of remind me of old bricks.

The downside of this little rectangular mold - it's hard to get a thin layer in it for a filled chocolate, so it would probably be best as a solid chocolate.

[mostlylana]

Chocolatiers start your engines! I just fired up my compressor for the first time today. After just a little screaming on my part everything went quite well. The house didn't blow up - I was glad of that. I am now completely outfitted for my guns and I am almost finished making my spray tent to drape over my stove fan. I plan to try my guns tomorrow. You'll probably hear me squealing in most parts of Canada and the States when that happens! I'll keep you posted!

[Kerry Beal]

Chocolatiers start your engines!  I just fired up my compressor for the first time today.  After just a little screaming on my part everything went quite well.  The house didn't blow up - I was glad of that.  I am now completely outfitted for my guns and I am almost finished making my spray tent to drape over my stove fan.  I plan to try my guns tomorrow.  You'll probably hear me squealing in most parts of Canada and the States when that happens!  I'll keep you posted!

I'm looking forward to seeing how your spray tent works.

[John DePaula]

Anyone know where to find molds like Debondt uses? Large egg, hinged double mold. I think it's a spinner. The ones on JKV don't look like they're doubles.

Edited by John DePaula, 22 January 2009 - 03:53 PM.

[John DePaula]

I'm in love with this new Fuji spray gun!  For the first time airbrushing I finished without coloured hair or blowing blue snot.  Minimal aerosol, and can be made less by turning down the volume of air.

I made up chocolate with 30% extra cocoa butter, then used it to spray a frozen boot.  I screwed up a bit - the chocolate was supposed to be 50º C when I sprayed it - but it was around 30º.  I think the suede look would have been better with the temperature right.  And of course it doesn't help that I've now got finger prints on it. 

...

I then took the same mixture, turned the air pressure right down until the chocolate sputtered out of the needle - perfect splatter!  It was a simple matter to dump out what was left in the container - wipe with a paper towel - heat with the heat gun - wipe once more - then blow the air through until no more colour came out of the needle.  Then I added a coloured cocoa butter and sprayed.

...

This gun will not allow you to do a thin line (but I don't think any spray gun or airbrush will).  The unit we got is the Q4 turbine - Q for quiet - it still makes a fair amount of noise, but it's not at the ear splitting frequencies of my compressor, so it's a whole lot easier to tolerate.  I think the extra $200 for the quieter turbine is money well spent.  I'm going to keep the 6 foot flexible hose and the attachment with the air control valve in my stuff - and let hubby get another one - because it was covered in coloured cocoa butter fingerprints when I was done.  This way I don't have to worry about food safety issues because we are sharing the turbine.

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot. He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

Edited by John DePaula, 22 January 2009 - 03:54 PM.

[Kerry Beal]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

[John DePaula]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

[Kerry Beal]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

So do you just line the can with a plastic bag then screw it in place?

Sorry to hear about the delay in customs - must be difficult waiting.

[John DePaula]

By the way, I emailed Paul from FujiSpray, and asked if it might be possible to use a plastic sack, e.g. made from a ZipLock bag, in the non-gravity feed pressure pot.  He says that some people do use a plastic bag for spraying paint.

I don't think there are any food-safe issues to deal with but using a sack may provide a very fast way to switch colors.

I'm not sure how you are putting the sack in the gravity feed?

No, this won't work in the gravity-feed pressure pot; only the regular one. My system came with a regular pot (the one your hubby is going to use to paint the house) but I also ordered the gravity feed gun which, apparently, is having an extended stay at US Customs...

So do you just line the can with a plastic bag then screw it in place?

Sorry to hear about the delay in customs - must be difficult waiting.

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like you could take a bag of melted chocolate and let the top of the bag flop over the rim of the pot, then secure the top and you're good to go.

I had been waiting for the gravity gun but decided to go forward with what I have - the basic Q4 system. I washed everything out today and am waiting for it all to dry out. Seems to make a nice strong mist, at least with water.

Kerry, have you tried the No. 4 tip yet, or are you only using the No. 6?

[Kerry Beal]

I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like you could take a bag of melted chocolate and let the top of the bag flop over the rim of the pot, then secure the top and you're good to go.

I had been waiting for the gravity gun but decided to go forward with what I have - the basic Q4 system.  I washed everything out today and am waiting for it all to dry out.  Seems to make a nice strong mist, at least with water. 

Kerry, have you tried the No. 4 tip yet, or are you only using the No. 6?

I only got the No 6.

[mostlylana]

I think the bag sounds like a great idea. I thought you had ordered several mini containers for different colours - will that not work out? I FINALLY tried my gun yesterday with water. It can do some pretty cool things. I have 4 knobs to play with - the fluid knob (how much chocolate comes out), the atomizing air knob (the knob that makes it eliptical or round), the air to the gun knob and the air into the cup knob. I can completely turn off the air to the gun and just have air to the cup which gives a straight line. Different amounts of cup to gun air pressure give different types of splatter. More atomizing air with lower fluid gives a smooth even surface. Today I tried it with chocolate but my makeshift spray booth wasn't finished. Yikes. It wasn't too bad but I won't do that again. I was playing around which made it worse. I'm sure once I'm proficient I can spray with little mess. I wish I had a plastic room that I could just go for it in. There are so many things I want to try! I used acetate to practice on but that got covered up in a hurry. Anyone have any other ideas for practice? I was just working on getting an even atomization today. I did some heart molds and had a glitch. One of the molds come out perfectly - very shiny. Here's a photo - but not a great one. They look better in person! The other mold didn't release properly as you can see. I know this was discussed somewhere but I'm too darn tired to search for it. I did 4 or 5 thin layers of spray putting it in the fridge for just a minute after each. I would hit it quickly with the hair dryer before doing the next spray and before I filled. I wonder if I overdid it with the hair dryer?? Paul DeBondt said that after doing the layers of spray you need to dab in chocolate with a brush before filling as the layers are too thin and need some backing. I'm thinking making the shell will provide the thickness - and provided you've softened the chocolate slightly with the hair dryer - there should be a bond between the thin sprayed chocolate and the rest of the shell... right? I'll be experimenting again tomorrow so would love feedback if someone knows what's going on.

[John DePaula]

I think the hot air must have thrown the thin chocolate layer out of temper.

Would the following be correct?

• spray a thin coat of chocolate into the mold
• allow to set
• ladle in some tempered chocolate
• empty the mold to create a shell
• scrape and allow to set

[mostlylana]

I think the hot air must have thrown the thin chocolate layer out of temper.

Would the following be correct?

• spray a thin coat of chocolate into the mold
  
• allow to set
  
• ladle in some tempered chocolate
  
• empty the mold to create a shell
  
• scrape and allow to set

Yes, I wonder about the hair dryer on the very thin chocolate... I also just reread the 'chocolates with that showroom finish topic' (apparently I wasn't too tired!). 2 different people said they had more success when the sprayed layer was thin. Paul DeBondt said he does 7 or 8 very thin layers and then uses a brush to brush in chocolate before filling. I did 4 or 5 layers but maybe they were too thick?? (I didn't do the brush though...) Do you just do 1 layer of spray before filling? I'll do more experiments tomorrow and report back.
I have 1 more question: What is the best way to spray so the sides get evenly coated and the chocolate doesn't pool to the bottom? At first I had my mold on the counter and was spraying directly downward. That didn't get the sides very good. Then I tried keeping the mold on the counter but angling my gun more toward the wall rather than down and turned the mold to get all of the sides. Then I held the mold and sprayed more accurately on the sides. Problem here is that it's more difficult to keep the chocolate contained and off of the walls! Anyone have a successful method?
And how many layers do most of you spray when spraying chocolate or coloured cocoa butter?
Thanks!

[John DePaula]

I think the hot air must have thrown the thin chocolate layer out of temper.

Would the following be correct?

• spray a thin coat of chocolate into the mold
  
  
• allow to set
  
  
• ladle in some tempered chocolate
  
  
• empty the mold to create a shell
  
  
• scrape and allow to set

Yes, I wonder about the hair dryer on the very thin chocolate... I also just reread the 'chocolates with that showroom finish topic' (apparently I wasn't too tired!). 2 different people said they had more success when the sprayed layer was thin. Paul DeBondt said he does 7 or 8 very thin layers and then uses a brush to brush in chocolate before filling. I did 4 or 5 layers but maybe they were too thick?? (I didn't do the brush though...) Do you just do 1 layer of spray before filling? I'll do more experiments tomorrow and report back.
I have 1 more question: What is the best way to spray so the sides get evenly coated and the chocolate doesn't pool to the bottom? At first I had my mold on the counter and was spraying directly downward. That didn't get the sides very good. Then I tried keeping the mold on the counter but angling my gun more toward the wall rather than down and turned the mold to get all of the sides. Then I held the mold and sprayed more accurately on the sides. Problem here is that it's more difficult to keep the chocolate contained and off of the walls! Anyone have a successful method?
And how many layers do most of you spray when spraying chocolate or coloured cocoa butter?
Thanks!

You could try to adjust the spray pattern and/or the pressure. Is it possible that you've thinned the chocolate a bit too much, or perhaps it's a bit too warm? Or the mold could be too warm, I guess...

[Sue Casey]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

Kerry - what mold did you use for these? I've been trying to find a long triangular mold without much luck. This rectangular one seems like it might be a good substitute for what I'm looking for.

Your effects look great.

[Kerry Beal]

Check out the difference with these ones.  This was the first mold I splattered and some of the splatter was still wet when I went on to spray the next colour. 

I also realize that some attention must be paid to getting all sides of a rectangle sprayed equally.

Kerry - what mold did you use for these? I've been trying to find a long triangular mold without much luck. This rectangular one seems like it might be a good substitute for what I'm looking for.

Your effects look great.

I picked it up at Tomric - let me see if I can find some identification on it. It's Chocolate World 1-1418.