Painting straight line at top of wall and ceiling?

Good advice in this thread, except for that thing with wheels. My technique is pretty much as described. Someone mentioned that there isn't a true corner between the ceiling and wall -- it's actually slightly rounded.

Where I differ from the advice given is that I prefer bringing the wall paint to the top of that curve because it's less noticeable than having white ceiling paint on the wall. It's a line of sight thing -- during normal activities in a house, walls [and their edges] are more noticeable. Edges of ceilings aren't noticeable unless you're pretty much up against the wall.

Of course, it depends on the wall color. If there's a big contrast between wall color and ceiling color, ceiling paint down onto the wall will be more noticeable than vice versa. If the colors are really close, it doesn't matter much how straight the line is.

One thing not yet mentioned -- if you get the wall paint too far onto the ceiling, you can touch up the ceiling. Ceiling paint is typically some sort of flat white, easily touched up without sticking out like a sore thumb. And in this case I would stay away from the wall -- just touch up the worst spots. Something good to have handy are a few artist brushes, for the occasional spot.

A couple other things...

Someone mentioned using a 3" or bigger brush. No -- a 2 1/2" angle sash brush is the best all-around thing to use for interiors.

You going to have to experiment a bit with how to load the brush. Obviously you want to scrape off the excess paint, but how hard to scrape [i.e. how much paint to leave in the brush] is something to be determined -- as you get used to cutting in you may want to carry more paint per brushload.

Someone mentioned practicing in a closet -- great idea.

Reply to
Hopkins
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On 23 Feb 2006 15:23:33 -0800, "Hopkins" scribbled this interesting note:

Yep. I've cut in many a corner and this is the brush to use.

Of course others may have a different preference, but this one works best for me. And I've tried straight brushes, narrow brushes, wide brushes, but for cutting in that 2 1/2" angled brush can't be beat. Keep it clean and buy the best one you can afford. It'll last you years and years if you keep it in the original package or otherwise keep the bristles wrapped up and protected.

-- John Willis snipped-for-privacy@airmail.net (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Reply to
John Willis

Agreed.

Scraping off the paint is the worst thing you can do for the brush. Paint should be poured from the can into a smaller container than can be easily held. The brush is dipped into the paint about halfway up the bristles, then it is lightly slapped against the side of the container to knock off the excess paint. You want the brush fully loaded, scraping the brush takes off too much paint and damages the bristles of the brush. If you've ever seen someone's brush that has all of those short hairs sticking out from the sides, they're scrapers and not slappers.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

and damages the bristles of the brush.

Reply to
Hopkins

and damages the bristles of the brush. I've never had a problem with damaged bristles by scraping. Point

I just did a quick search to back up my opinion and ran across this:

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almost spooky how closely this guy's painting technique and advice mirrors my older post! It sucks that his was a few years earlier and is more complete, but that's life!

R
Reply to
RicodJour

"Put the paint in a relatively large container, so that there's lots of container wall above the surface level of the paint. This is so that after you've dipped the brush in the paint you can tap the flat edges of the brush against the inner wall of the container to drive the paint into the fibres, whilst knocking off the drippy excess from the surface of the brush. This method is a lot more effective than scraping the brush across the edge of the container, which removes far too much paint for the purposes of emulsioning."

1 -- I don't know what qualifies as a "relatively large container", but even paint pots have openings wide enough that can promote drying out, leaving you with a lot of half-dried crud to deal with. I prefer paint cans, using a paint pot [covered with a wet rag] to hold the excess.

2 -- I don't know what he means by "emulsioning" as it relates to painting a straight line.

I didn't see any mention of damaging bristles... of course I got hung up on how he got 105 degrees out of a right angle.

Mind you, I rarely find a need to scrape but it does occur. I still think that if someone can't cut a straight line they should start slow and carry a little less paint until they get the feel [sorta like training wheels]. Then they can carry more paint and work on speeding things up.

Reply to
Hopkins

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