Have you tried to do striped effects on your painted pieces and been less than happy with the outcome? You tried using tape, only to find you still had bleed through, or worse still your new paint lifted? Well, stay tuned because we are going to show you how to get those perfect, crisp stripes, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!!!
It doesn’t matter what you are painting as the technique is the same. First up, you want to clean and prep your piece. Depending on the surface you are painting you may also need to prime .
Apply one to two coats of your base colour to obtain a smooth opaque coverage (1). Allow to dry well – the time taken will depend on the paint and the weather conditions.
Next, grab a ruler and measure out your stripes, applying your painters tape (2). We prefer Frog Tape in our studio but any painters tape can be used. When you apply your tape, LIGHTLY press down and then run your finger lightly down the tape edge to ensure contact (3).
Now here is the pro tip! Apply a light coat of your base coat OVER your tape edges (4). This will totally seal the taped edges and prevent bleed through of your contrasting colour. Any bleed through that does occur will be in this coat and will be the same colour as the base coat. Let dry.
Once touch dry, add your top contrasting stripe colour to obtain a smooth opaque cover (5).
Leave for a few minutes to settle and remove your tape while your paint is still damp. Do not wait for your paint to dry as this may lead to the paint tearing.
And Voila! Perfect, clean edge stripes (6).
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