Painting and using masking tape without that nasty bleed?

I am pretty new to this forum, want to start a painting project and looking for some tips on how to paint without that nasty bleed around! Anyone out there has some tips?


Came across this product called Frog tape It looks promising because they say their tape prevents bleeding, but has anyone tried this?

Thx..
Aaron

I've found that it's important to stick the edge of the painter's masking tape down. Don't just wipe your hand over the tape to press it into place. Wipe your hand over it, and then rub a finger or finger nail along the edge you don't want seepage under to ensure that it's pressed down tightly along that edge.

Also, some tapes will gradually pull off by themselves, so it's important to press that edge in place immediately before painting along that edge. Put your masking tape up, and then press the important edges down as, and immediately before you paint along them.

The thing to keep in mind is that choosing an adhesive for painter's masking tape is like walking a tightrope. On the one hand, the glue can't be stronger than the paper backing or people will have trouble removing the masking tape. On the other, it has to be strong enough to keep the tape (including it's edges) from peeling off over the span of a week or two (or so they claim). And, if the glue is soluble in mineral spirits or water (or alcohol) then some primers or paints are going to dissolve their way into the glue layer under the tape. So, it's pretty hard to get an adhesive that meets all those requirements well.

I've used the Frog tape and it seemed to work better than the blue stuff.

Nestor's comment about the additional effort necessary to keep the tape from pulling away is spot on. I've found that a narrow plastic putty knife is great for running along the tape.

I like the frog tape. You can check out some comments on the stuff here
Episode #92 – Painting like a pro
along with some painting tips. Make sure you listen to the podcast.

you can also learn to paint with a steady hand. I like to use a decent angled brush.

You know, there's something that I'd say is worth trying if you don't have any better success with the Frog tape. If it were me, I would put your normal painter's masking tape about 1/10 of an inch away from the edge you want to protect from paint, and then use narrow 1/2 inch wide Scotch tape over the edge of the painter's masking tape along the edge you want to protect from paint.

I'm thinking the Scotch tape has a solvent based adhesive that won't be dissolved by the latex paint. Also, with only a small width of Scotch tape sticking to the wall, the Scotch tape should come off with the painter's masking tape and not take any existing paint off the wall either.

Or, at least, if all else fails, this SHOULD work.

Havn't seen flog tape in my market. I found the blue painters tape works well. I also use a plastic putty knife to seal it to the surface. I like to use a wider tape maybe 2-3" if I have room. Have to be very careful pulling it off specially if the paint has dried.

Another trick is to initially paint the same color along the tape so that any bleed doesn't show, then paint over that with the contrasting color.

For example if the ceiling is white and the wall blue, lay your tape on the ceiling surface and paint the top strip of the wall with white paint. When it dries, paint the wall blue right up on to the tape.

Extra work, but it does a nice job.

I used FrogTape for the first time this past weekend. It works great. I hate painting and I had to repaint my ceiling so I put FrogTape along my walls and trimmed out my ceiling. I was a bit messy but it didn't matter since the tape didn't allow for bleeding. Best money ever spent to help me when I paint.

I have found that the best way to controll paint bleed is to first clean the areas free of dust and oils that are to be masked and after you stick the tape run a small putty knife along the tape using some pressure. As far as tape brand is concerned 3M brand blue i think works great.

We tape then use a thin film of paintable caulk over the tape. You paint right over the caulk and pull the tape up before it is fully dry.

BY far it's faster and cheaper to learn how to paint with just a quality sash brush and not use any tape at all.
Then there's no bleed over and no paint peeled off when you remove the tape.
Paint gets under the tape from having to wet a brush and painting toward the tape not away from it. Approch the wall with a wet brush and start about 2" above the paint line once the brush has the heavest paint off the brush start painting the paint line.