Decided to try and do a camo paint job on one of my bows.  First practice try on a piece of scrap.  Seems like there's 3 basic methods: the tiger stripe, the spray over a leaf and the sponge paint method.  Any tips/tricks for getting the best result?

Cool camo just try reversing it to dark background and light colored stripes before you decide to paint your bow.By the way, man that dog is awesome.Is it a Drathaar?

Yep.  My 5.5 month old Drahthaar, Brisco.

A Japanese maple leaf (or chicken tracks) ...

I like the second one-good job--Bone

Oops, I thought this was going to be a thread about hunting from a tree stand-----it's "almost" as exciting as watching paint dry.

They both look good to me.  I like the first one best though cause you put your dog in the picture.

Way back in my wheelie bow days we camo painted all of our bows. I like the leaf pattern and would paint different base colors on each limb. (one light, one darker) and use three colors alternating and mixing them up. I'm no artist but the technique worked so well it made me look like one.

Nice job.

-Sharps

I'm a fan of this one:

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=051066

Thx for the tips ...

Dang that drathaar pic brings back a pile of memories. Mine (Nicki) is so old that she can only go about an hour, but oh the memories.

I like the light background pattern but maybe a touch of dark overspray to cut the sharp lines a little.

Looking forward to the final product pics.

I have used a pattern of black, mud brown, and khaki (tan).

Spray the entire item in flat black. Let dry. Once dry, I wrap the thing (bows, treestands, etc) in rope, going in all directions. I use different size rope, depending on the item to be camoed. This lays out your pattern. Once wrapped, spray on some Khaki, then mud brown. Leave a bit of the Khaki show.

Once dry, just remove the rope. You will be left with a brown and khaki camo that has black "limbs" going through it. You can make it light or dark in tone by adjusting the amount of brown you put on. More Khaki areas showing make for a lighter pattern. The beauty of the rope is that you end up with fuzzy edges to your "limbs" Since it is round, some of the paint sprays around the edge of the rope and blends into the other colors.

If you remember back a few years, Bear did a very similar pattern on their bows (mostly compounds) and called it Bear Illusion. Jennings did the same but had gray as the predominant color.

BP

I used the "spray over a leaf" on a rifle and it turned out great.  Keep things random, watch your colors,  and you dang near can't go wrong.

Guy

i like to keep things simple and just let the overspray run the colors into each other and not use any pattern or leaves.

I would like your second pic minus the leaves, and I like the one all the way on the right in the last pic.

All you need to do is break up the straight line of the bow. 2 or 3 colors randomly shot on there would do it. Then if you want to get artistic, you can put as much effort as you like into it.

I am a less is more guy.

I love the Japanese maple camo job, and the dog is just awesome looking as well.

I did a camo job on my old wood handle jennings using a leaf from a oak tree at the archery range. My thought was the leaf is from the same trees in the area I planned to hunt. I traced the leaf on a piece of thin cardboard and cut it out with a razor knife. I used the paints that Martin used to have in a "camo kit". I still have the pattern card that came with the paints. The paint came off real easy with paint thinner after deer season.
I really enjoy these threads that bring back to "old" days for me. Tom

Last couple ... I think.

dont leave your bow leaning against a tree or on the ground or you might never find it again!   :D