Painting class

[HeyBub]

Went to the local Home & Garden Show and sat in on a painting class. Here are some hints I gleaned. You probably know most of them.

• Don't mask window glass - use Chapstick! Use cling-wrap on mirrors, door-knobs, and anything else from which it would be irritating to clean speckles.

• Don't wash your brushes, use a bucket containing water and (a lot) of liquid fabric softener. The brush will clean in ten seconds.

• There's a big difference between a "paint" brush (expensive) and a brush only fit for slathering on finish remover.

• Never paint from the can. Plus, your container should contain no more than

1/2" of paint. A swell container can be made from plastic milk jug or bleach bottle. Cut a large window in the bottle. You'll have a handy container, a handle to hold it, and a ready-made funnel for putting the excess back in the can. With a suitable cut, you can fashion a grip for your brush so the brush hangs vertically inside the bleach bottle.

• Spray your hand (or other body parts) with PAM (regular, not garlic-flavored). The paint splatters won't stick.

• The instructor made a painter's apron out of a 13-gallon trash bag, complete with neck loop and ties for around the back. I can't describe it here.

• Punch 4 or more holes in the rim of your paint can. This allows paint to drain back into the can. The "point" on the painter's tool is designed for this purpose.

• For your paint-holding hand, cover it with a nitrile or other plastic glove. Dump some talc or baby powder in the glove first, and seal the open end of the glove to your arm with blue tape.

• Unused paint: Take a bit of the cut off trash bag, or plastic sack, spray it with PAM. Open the lid of the half-empty can, breathe into the can three times (CO2 to dispel the oxygen), place the bit of plastic over the can (PAM-side down), then the lid, and hammer into place. Turn the can upside down and store. The PAM will rise to the surface in the paint, forming a thin film atop the paint, protecting the paint from any residual oxygen in the can. Remember, paint doesn't "dry" so much as it "sets" due to contact with oxygen.

• To keep paint from leaking under blue masking tape, run a dull object rapidly, one time, lengthwise, over the edge of the tape. This slightly heats the blue tape via friction, and the heat slightly melts the wax that holds the tape to the wall. This melted wax makes a much better seal.

• Don't like the smell of the paint? Add 4 drops of vanilla extract to your paint can.

• Do not scrape the brush on the side of your container. Loading a brush is a three-step process. DUNK the brush in the paint, DRIP to allow excess to fall out, PAT the sides of the container with the brush.

• Likewise painting is a three-stroke process. Starting at the bottom UP 'til the brush no longer lays a complete layer of paint (LOAD), then DOWN to smooth the paint (SET), the back UP (FINISH).

• Wash your brush or roller every two hours.

• Do Not Use fuzzy six-pack rollers. Get a Teflon-coated roller. More expensive, but it won't leave fuzz and spreads the paint better. Using the Fabric Softener trick above, it, too, can be cleaned in ten seconds.

• If you want to use a small, open, container as a paint supply, here are two tips: Line the container inside with a large Zip-lock bag, it makes clean-up easier. With two pieces of duct-tape (one shorter than the other) you can fashion a palm-holder. Place the short piece of duct tape on the larger, sticky-side to sticky-side. Hold the container in the palm of your hand and tape your hand to the container. Well, your hand really slides in and out, but this enables you to hold the paint dish in your palm.

• The next tip is mostly just clever and requires two empty 5-gallon paint buckets and 4 longish pieces of Velcro tape. Cut four slits in the lids of the paint buckets, thread the Velcro through the slits, and belay your feet to the lids with the Velcro straps. Ta-da! Eighteen-inch-high stilts! No more moving the ladder to cut-in the ceiling!

• A needful thing for cleanup is a "Brush and roller spinner". You attach your brush (or roller) and rapidly move the handle back and forth. This action spins the bejesus out of the brush and really helps cleaning. You cannot get this tool at HD or Lowes, (some ACE stores might have it) but here's a link for four different models (about ). * If your "scraper" bends, it's not a scraper - it's a spreader (like for mud). You scrape only with a rigid blade. Using a spreader as a scraper invariably results in gouges.

• Always remember: Oil or oil-based products (like wax) and water (based paints) do not mix. Use this knowledge to your advantage. Oxygen is the enemy of not-yet-applied paint.

I'll post a follow up on other tips as I recall them, as well as the book containing most of the hints and tips.

Right now I'm still hung-over.

[norminn]

No...better method is to paint onto the glass (as straight and even as possible) just a narrow line. The dry paint film should cover and seal the gap between glass and frame. If needed, get out a straight edge and razor scraper when the paint is dry to trim the edge of the paint film.

Have to see that to believe it.

Probably true, but I have some old bristle brushes that have been through everything, including paint remover.

The new coffee "cans" would be great. Old metal coffee cans were great for storing brushes between paint sessions...cut an "X" in the lid, stick the handle through that, and the brush is suspended in solvent so's the bristles don't bend.

I'd have to use garlic for that trick. Is washing off the PAM less difficult than cleaning off the paint?

Never :o) Run a strip of foil around the rim, pour out the paint, take off the foil and replace the lid. If the rim gets rusty, then the rust gets inside the can.

Sandwich bags are nice, but I keep a box of 100 medical gloves on hand for whatever.

Easier to take a piece of plastic wrap, lay it so that it covers the surface of the paint. No need to do either if you rap the lid back on with a rubber mallet.

Would the dull object be a finger? Works for me :o)

Daring, especially if one weighs more than about 50 pounds :o)

My son just bought one .. at Menard's?..Hasn't used it yet. By the time I finish painting, having given up on most methods of keeping paint off stuff it isn't supposed to be on, I just squeeze the paint out with my hands. Only for latex, of course.

One "tip" I'll add is to make sure you tighten the lid on a can of paint before you pick it up to shake it a little bit. Especially if standing in the middle of your daughter's blacktop driveway and the paint ain't black. Of course, the spilled paint is useful for artistic endeavors, like placing your handprint on the clothing of the other painters. ;o)

[HeyBub]

No, the lids were attached to the cans with sheet-metal screws. I was mistaken on the attachment of the Velcro straps; they were bolted to the lids using large metal warshers. The Velcro straps also functioned as a crude handle so he could carry most of his painting supplies IN the cans.

To attach to your feet, put one foot on one can and "tie" the (Velcro) laces. Then do the same for the other foot.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/14/2011 1:36 PM HeyBub spake thus:

You know, this just might work for the normal agile-type human bean, but for a complete klutzomaniac like me, it would be a disaster.

However, it would look quite funny, and for that reason alone might be worth trying.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 2/14/2011 7:36 AM [e-mail] spake thus:

Ya know, paint cans have got to be the most poorly-designed containers of all time, at least from the point of view of the user. (Probably works great for the manufacturer, which is why we're stuck with it.) I'm sure I'm not the first person to point this out.

I also wonder about the wisdom of punching holes in the "gutter". I've heard this advice before, and it does make sense to allow the paint that inevitably pools there to drain back into the can. But it also seems like an open invitation for the can to rust, a big problem especially with water-based paints, or an opportunity for air to get in and ruin the paint.

Even though I hate plastic containers, it would seem that those plastic paint cans with the big screw-on caps might be an improvement over the corrugated-rim can. But I wonder how many of those caps will get glued on tight over time, never to be unscrewed again.

[aemeijers]

Fine and dandy until the bucket shatters as you put your weight down on it at an awkward angle, and it dumps you down a stairwell or something. (I've had it happen using them as stepstools or even as lunch stools.) There is a reason drywall stilts cost several hundred dollars. Or the buckets get crossed up as you try to walk, and one rotates out from under you. Like trying to walk through deep snow or mud with boots that are too big. I'd rather spend a few bucks and get the right equipment, or since I am too klutzy for stilts, a little kick-around work platform, maybe even one with a tall grab handle on one end. I'm getting old- it takes me a long annoying time to heal up from oopsies now.

The buckets do make good tool caddies, though. They are also great for storing bird seed, since the damn mice gnaw right through even the thick plastic bags.

[HeyBub]

Yep. Excellent idea.

Dutch Boy paints (from Walmart) have that design, complete with pouring spout. The container itself is probably patented so we won't see them in general use for another 16 years.

As for the lid sticking, the paint counter has a humongous wrench that fits in the grooves on the lid to open stubborn containers.

I'll bet a suitable-sized strap wrench would work as well.

Of course one COULD wipe the threads before replacing the lid...

[chaniarts]

if it's such a good idea, why don't the paint can manufacturers prepunch the holes for consumers?

[RicodJour]

All in all, excellent advice. Wagner Glass Mask is a nifty product. It applies a liquid wax precisely 1/16" from the edge. You trace around the window pane zip-zip-zip, the wax dries quickly, and when painted the paint laps over onto the glass the way it's supposed to. The applicator cover has a scraper to remove the wax and overpaint. First time I saw it a DIYer friend had gotten spectacular results on a glass-front cabinet with many panes. Pretty much a perfect paint job.

R

[Steve B]

"aemeijers" wrote

I bet there isn't one among us who would be honest that couldn't tell a painful story involving a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Yet, I still sill use one for a stepstool when I'm too lazy to go find one. I've just learned how to mount and dismount after some failures. Still, there's that pucker factor every time.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Download the book $10

[Steve B]

I take a drywall screw and make about 16 holes in the groove almost nearly as big as the diameter of the drywall screw, tapping the screw with a small hammer. Any paint that goes in the groove falls through the holes, and there's less paint to seize the lid. It works half assed, but better than no holes.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Download the book $10

[Steve B]

Mainly because it would be a violation of my patent ............

Steve

[Steve B]

It's the liability involved. Someone would break a nail, or use a 40d nail, or do anything stupid, and then blame the manufacturer. I live in dry dry dry desert. Rust is not an issue here, and besides, water has to sit on there for a while to rust, so it is better if you store your paint inside. Still, inside condensation can cause surface rust. And you have to admit, it takes a while, so chances are if you don't use a can of paint within five years, there's a chance of it rusting. Especially if you live in a wet place.

[chaniarts]

there's water in the paint. internal humidity can migrate out the holes into the rim.

i live in phoenix, and have had plenty of rusty paint cans. i try to only buy the plastic cans now.

[RicodJour]

Redi-Patch spackle used to come in a metal can and I don't know if it was the can or the spackle, but the cans would always rust and you'd be picking little flakes out of the spackle. Very annoying. The last couple of times I bought it it came in a plastic tub. Considering how obvious the problem was I'm just as obviously convinced that they were intentionally oblivious to complaints and refused to change to a plastic tub so they could sell more of the stuff.

R

[HeyBub]

Nifty tool. Thanks for the reference and, when googled, I find it's available at Ace.

[RicodJour]

You're welcome. Ace's price seemed to be higher than some other places.

R

[aemeijers]

Metal paint can design was locked in about 1890 or so? They were limited in what they could make. Once something becomes a 'standard', hard to change it. I see lotsa brands in plastic jugs now, like coffee did a few years ago.

[Higgs Boson]

or

Hey, thanks for that great site! I haven't even visited all the links yet, but already picked up some useful tips. Ex: Stirring old paint; wood paddle insufficient; need mixer attached to power drill. I bought that garget years ago and never used it. Now I have to paint side of house, so if I can find it, will use to stir old stucco paint. Have to repaint mullioned French door, so will try that Wagner Glass Max.In that connection, there's a sharp-toothed device mentioned for breaking bond between door and frame, f'rinstance. Pouring spouts replacing 1 gal can lid, lots of neat stuff.

HB

[RicodJour]

Yeah, it's a kind of different site, isn't it? It's got an old-timey, DIY-tips-in-the-newspaper cartoon feel to it, but the information seemed pretty reasonable. I think you've seen more of the site than I have at this point. Anything you didn't like about it?

R