Painting problems (stripes).. someone with experience in doing this.. PLEASE HELP!!?
Question:i want to know what the best way to prevent bleeding through the tape when i paint stripes on my wall, also when should i remove the tape after i have painted the stripes, well its wet or dry?! thanks so much, you are saving me alot of stress in the future!
Answers:
Oh my, Dani...so many conflicting answers. Whom do you believe? I'll take a lash at this, EXPLAIN my answers, and then YOU decide.
First of all, the advice to remove the tape while the paint is still wet is CORRECT. Why? Because the if the paint that overlaps the wall and the tape dries, you now have, in effect a "bridge" of paint from one surface to the other. The dry paint doesn't "know" where to break cleanly, so it just pulls away in any old pattern until it breaks off -like peeling off someone's sunburned skin (yuk!)
That said, you can't pull the tape away while the paint is very wet, because then it will ooze across the line. Its a matter of wall condition, paint viscosity, judgement and experience as to when the right moment occurs.
Now here's a trick that can help: When you're ready to "pull the handle," as it were, take a thin straight edge and hold it up against the edge of the tape, on the painted side, so that if any paint tries to peel off, it will be cut by that straight edge. A venetian blind slat is ideal, bacuse you can hold it at a slight angle to keep the rest of the slat away from your new paint.
Now let's talk about the surface being painted, and "burnishing." That guy had it right -it is called burnishing; same thing you do when you use your fingernail to seal a piece of transparent scotch tape so it turns "invisible" on gift wrap, for example. While burnishing should be done in all cases, to get air pockets out (they make little caves for paint to ooze in to) the effect of burnishing can be diminished -even reversed- if the surface where the tape is being applied is too uneven. Look at the wall surface closely, and I mean under bright light. If it appears to be slightly pitted, sort of like soft craters on the moon, that's the "stippling" effect of a previous paint job done with a roller. The burnishing may push the tape down to conform to that pattern, but simple physics tells you the tape is going to gradually pull back to its original, flat shape. And the tape ITSELF really isn't completely flat either, if you look at it. So now you've got on uneven surface trying to bond with another. Ugh. If the previous paint job was done in a hurry, and with a roller that had very coarse material, the stippling may be very pronounced. If, in your judgement, this is a factor, here's another trick to get around that "gotcha:" Run a very thin coat of joint compound down the wall where your tape edge is going to be. This thin coating should be almost transparent when it dries, which it will do in a matter of minutes. It will fill those pits and craters and give a flat surface. If there's a little ragged edge on your thin coat, you can remove it by VERY lightly dragging a damp sponge down the line to knock off the ragged edges, or by pulling your spackling blade over the rough spots. Before applying the tape, use a dry paint brush to dust off your joint compound work; otherwise, the dust will cause the tape to not stick properly. It took longer to explain this then it does to actually do it. Now, your tape wil be burnished to a flatter surface -gets a better grip and seals much better that way.
Now let's think about application. Instead of a brush, how about a mini roller? If the mini roller is still too big, then you're forced to use a brush, but if the roller is possible, the end result will be a "stippled" effect which will blend better with whatever was rolled on before. You also have a bit more control with the roller, in terms of "paint load" being applied, because you can roll out excess paint in the pan before putting it on the wall.
Otherwise, if a brush is really the best or only option, then you DO want to follow the advice to make your strokes parallel to the tape edge, so you don't drag paint UNDER the edge.
One final "tip." Using your straight edge as a guide, you can actually score a tiny line along the edge of the tape with a utility knife loaded with a nice new sharp blade. This will positively separate the paint on the wall from any on the tape and is especially useful when the paint has dried too much. Drag the blade at an angle, so the paint is cut by it, as opposed to being plowed with the point of the blade. I always use this method when I've applied tape to protect embedded hardware, such as the metal plate around a door bolt. Never fails! AND, after you've pulled away the tape, you can "burnish" that cut line so the still-soft paint fills the line like putty.
This all sounds very fussy -and it IS fussy- but the whole idea is to end up with a precise geometry which is pleasing to the eye, and even the tiniest bleeding or gap will ruin your stripe effect. The human eye will go RIGHT TO that spot! Fussy as it is, though, the routine itself becomes automatic after you've done it a few times, and it will go faster than you might now imagine.
Good luck, thanks for the question, and thanks to the other respondents!
you should take the tape off when the wall is dry and bleeding thorugh the tape? buy scotch tape for painters.
Depends on the paint and the tape used. Generally, I remove the tape after the paint sets up and touch up as needed once it is dry.
Make sure your painters tape is pressed on to the wall properly, after you apply it, run a finger down the edge, pressing to make sure there are no openings. DO NOT remove the tape until the paint is completely dry. If your stripes are vertical then avoid any horizontal brush or roller strokes, if horizontal stripes then avoid vertical strokes. Be sure you use a quality painters tape.
Using a good quality paint, so you only need one coat, painter's tape, (the blue stuff) and remove the tape before the paint completely dries.
Make sure the surface is clean under the taped area. Make sure the tape is completely stuck or paint will bleed under it. I take a cloth and rub over the tape.
If you wait for the paint to dry before removing the tape the edges of the tape gets damp and paint can seep under the tape. The dry paint can also stick to the tape and when you try to remove the tape to reveal your stripes you can pull off paint you don't want to.
Good Luck!
Let me start by saying that taping is as much a craft as painting is. First apply the tape where it's needed. Second, on the edge that is being painted, take a putty knife or even a screwdriver and use that to really press the tape down( we in the trade call that burnishing). Then paint and when you start, keep your paint brush as parallel to the tape as you can. As soon as your finished where the tape is, pull off immediately. If you let the paint dry, pulling the tape off will also pull some of the dried paint as well, leaving unstraight lines defeating the entire purpose.
Make sure you use high quality painters tape. Most of the time the painters tape is blue.
Remove the tape after the paint is all the way dry.
I would say the bleeding problem came from either not getting the tape totally adhered to the wall in the 1st place (I use a small plastic scraper for this--from pampered chef and also used to clean baking stones), or from having too much texture on the wall instead of a smooth finish (which makes doing stripes really challenging). Remove the tape when the paint is really dry. Fold it back to pull it off at an extreme angle. If the paint is really thick it helps to score the edges of the tape lightly with a craft knife before peeling it off. Good luck next time!
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