System and method for applying fingernail art

A method of coating fingernails on a hand with art comprised of at least one of a color and a design as selected from a catalogue of at least one of plural colors and plural designs, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing said catalogue in computer media form, said computer media being connected with a video monitor;
• viewing said catalogue on said monitor in order to determine which of said colors and designs is desired;
• selecting from said catalogue that art desired for application to a fingernail;
• inserting said fingernail into a mold for aid in locating said fingernail and said hand at a preferred art coating position;
• sensing with a height sensor the height of said fingernail in said mold relative to said preferred art coating position;
• providing a color applicator in operational relation with said fingernail when said fingernail and said hand are in said preferred art coating position;
• and
• controlling operation of said color applicator by said computer processor so that said selected art is applied directly to said fingernail on said hand by said color applicator.

A system for coating a fingernail on a hand with art comprised of at least one of a color and a design, said system comprising:

• a hand mold for aid in locating at least one fingernail on at least one hand at a preferred art coating position;
• a color applicator in operational relation with said hand mold and, thereby, with said fingernail, for coating said fingernail when said hand mold is in said preferred art coating position;
• and
• an applicator controller operatively connected with said applicator, said controller being adapted to control said color applicator in the direct application of said art to said fingernail on said hand.

A system for coating fingernails on at least one hand with art comprised of at least one of a color and a design as selected from a catalogue of at least one of plural colors and plural designs, said system comprised of:

• a catalogue in computer media form, said catalogue having at least one of plural colors and plural designs;
• a monitor for viewing said catalogue in order to determine which of said colors and designs is desired;
• a selector for selecting from said catalogue that art desired for application to a fingernail;
• a hand mold for aid in locating said fingernail and said hand at a preferred art coating position;
• a height sensor for sensing the height of said fingernail in said hand mold relative to said preferred art coating position;
• a fingernail coater for coating said fingernail with a base coat of a light sensitive coating, said base coat being provided on said fingernail only and on no surrounding skin;
• an optical sensor sensitive to said light sensitive coating, said optical sensor being adapted to sense at least one of said fingernail's size, peripheral shape and location when said fingernail and said hand are in said preferred art coating position;
• a color applicator in operational relation with said fingernail when said fingernail and said hand are in said preferred art coating position;
• a processor for processing the information gathered by said optical sensor about at least one of the size, peripheral shape and location of said fingernail, and the art information selected from said catalogue;
• and
• an applicator controller connected with said computer processor, said controller and said processor cooperating to effect direct application of the selected art directly onto said fingernail on said hand by said color applicator.

A mold system for positioning at least one of a fingernail and a thumbnail in a preferred art position relative to a color applicator in order to receive at least one of a color and a design, said hand mold system comprising:

• a mold including at least one of a finger or thumb contour, said contour being adapted to aid in locating at least one of a user's fingernail's in said preferred art coating position;
• a hand cut-out pattern formed in said mold to allow the user to position the user's hand in a relatively comfortable position when placing said at least one of said fingernail and said thumbnail in said hand mold system;
• a hold down gate connected to said mold, said hold down gate being operable to hold down the user's hand, and thereby said at least one of said fingernail and said thumbnail, in said preferred art coating position, said hold down gate being movable between a hold down position and a release position;
• and
• a positioning assembly connected to said mold to move said mold into and out of operational relation with said color applicator.

A color application system for applying art in the form of at least one of a color and a design to at least one of a fingernail and a thumbnail placed in a hand mold, said applicator system comprising:

• a sensor for determining at least one of the size, peripheral shape and location of that fingernail to receive said art;
• a media expulsion device connected with said sensor for applying said art to a user's fingernails;
• an X axis driver connected in operational relation with said expulsion device to move said expulsion device in a direction generally normal to a user's front facing position while said art is being applied to said fingernail;
• and
• a Y axis driver connected in operational relation with said expulsion device to move said expulsion device in a direction generally side to side relative to the user's front facing position while said art is being applied to said fingernail.