Or at least I think that's what it's called - where one paint colour ends and another starts.
Any tips for someone who can't paint a straight line? Masking tape has a habit of lifting some types of paint like emulsion from walls. And perhaps the best type of brush to use?
Wish I had a shaky hand to blame - but I'm fine at soldering the smallest things...
Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:
The B&Q Blue Masking Tape is good in this respect - clean lines and low tack, as long as you remove it within a day or so - in fact best to remove as soon as the paint is going off IME. I've not had a problem with this tape lifting paint - unless the paint has zero adhesion in the first place...
HTH
Tim
Its just a knack really. Try it out on areas where it won't show, like above door frames. A damp cloth will sort out most mishaps anyway.
Masking tape varies, but in general don't apply tape to emulsion until its really dry - several days.
Don't move your hand or arm, hold them and the brush perfectly still and move your body.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)" saying something like:
Paint the wall on your bench and let it dry outside, in the garden.
Do it in a firm, bold stroke. It is being hesitant that creates a wonky line. You don't actually need to get the line completely straight, but you do need to avoid it being wiggly along short lengths. It follows that you need a brush that holds enough paint for a longish stroke, but do make sure it has no odd bristles sticking out. That is one area where I buy decent brushes, rather than cheapo ones to throw away.
Colin Bignell
Classic case is the join between wall and ceiling. Whatever you do, you can't get a straight line unless both are perfect because masking tape just follows the wonky line. I'd rather put picture rail up and paint down to that.
Nearly - it's the joint between ceiling and coving. And wall and coving.
The only way I can get a really good result at eg wall/ceiling transition is with a first pass or two with one of those round sash brushes (the ones which are bound with string for much of their length), and then some painstakingly boring touching up with the really small detail 'fitch' brushes - as they have stiff short bristles they are much easier to control and you can just progressively 'fill in the dips' in the line until it is straight to the eye.
All very tedious and I'm sure a pro would regard the time it takes as ridiculous, but they couldn't criticise the end result.
It's much easier doing the transition between wall and skirting/ architraving, somehow. The sash brush helps if I'm having an off day or if it's already wet.
I've never managed to get this right either. Solution...get someone else to do it (SWMBO!).
Non-serious suggestion...carve the brush into the shape of a soldering iron....
I just feel guilty given the amount of DIY I manage ok. And am sure there must be a solution that will work for me and others similar. I can't be the only plant pot in the world...
Unfortunately my reasonable coordination with those is restrict to placing the bit in the correct place rather than moving it around. ;-)
I am truly hopeless at any form of freehand drawing. Everything that needs even just a sketch is done on the computer.
Now that I don't usually have a problem with, essentially because the coving is usually fairly straight. A 1" brush and sufficient pressure so that the bristles spread out to the edge you're trying to follow. You probably won't cover the whole surface first time but, by the time you've gone round the room and back again, the 2nd coat will take better. IME it's all about keeping those bristles flattened and not overloaded with paint. Can't believe that a man who has installed his own boiler would have trouble with painting :-)
Halve the problem by painting the coving the same colour as one or the other.
Even if it's not perfect, it's probably only *you* who can see the faults, unless SWMBO is particularly picky.
MBQ
Man at B&Q coughed up some electrons that declared:
Yes. Or give up like I do and use tape. It takes a while to tape everything off, but that time is partly saved in the speed with which you can daub the paint on - and you do get some lovely sharp cut ins.
I paint the coving the same colour as the ceiling. You can be messy when sloshing the old titanium white about and overlap the wall. Cutting up to the bottom of the coving is easier IMO than cutting to a possibly textured ceiling.
Cheers
Tim
Same here. And yet, as you say, a soldering iron is fine...!
Make the line deliberately wonky - use Artex on the ceiling.
Now you know exactly how I feel. ;-)
The 'simpler' DIY tasks - ie the ones most will attempt like straighfoward decorating - are the ones which give me the most grief. The only thing that perhaps comes under that I enjoy is tiling.
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
If you do the cutting in area first, then you can extend your little finger and rest it on the wall/ceiling and run it along parallel to the strip being painted IYSWIM. This provides a steady for your hand rather than having it floating around on the end of your arm. A bit like artists with those steady sticks they use.
Phil
Where the hall ceiling paper meets the landing wallpaper above a staircase, a length of half-round beading finishes it nicely.
in that case there is no cutting in involved.
For example: When you do the ceiling, you paint the edge of the coving that is touching the ceiling with the ceiling paint, lets say blue.
When you do the wall, you paint the underside edge of the coving with that colour, say green.
it doesn't make any difference how far onto the coving you go with the ceiling and wall paint, because now there's only the actual coved part of it that requires painting, and this can be slapped on quite easily by overlapping the loaded brush so that the bristles are past the edges, but obviously not o much so that they touch the wall or ceiling.
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