"Masking Tape Basics"

By Don Johnson

This is an old painters trick dealing with one of the most commonly used masking materials in custom painting, masking tape. I'm not sure anyone can take credit for this its been around forever, I though it well worth posting as it has served me well for many years.

Masking tape is probably the most commonly used used masking material in custom painting. It really pays to use the best quality masking tape available which means 3M masking tape. Because much of the time the custom painting we do is on surfaces other than flat masking tape seems to work the best. Masking tape will conform to just about any shape object with out producing a bunch of wrinkles in the tape. Wrinkles not only make design lay out difficult but are areas where under spray is likely to occur defeating the purpose of our masking the surface to begin with.

Masking tape is solve proof which is very important as most of the better paints used in custom painting are solvent based. That's very important because the solvent will not cause the adhesive to separate from the tape leaving your painting surface a mess. This should not happen with a good grade masking tape. It will happen if you try to use Frisk Film masking material with solvent based paints.

Masking tape comes in many different widths making finding just the right width for your project pretty easy.

Pictured below the two most common types of masking tape used in custom painting gray ( for lack of a better name) and Lacquer tape (green).

You should never lay your tape down on its side as doing so will allow dirt, dust , etc. to collect, stick on the sides possible getting onto the painting surface when you go to use it. It will also produce a fuzzy edge on the masking tape something you want to advoid.

Pictured above is my chosen type masking tape, Lacquer tape although a little more expensive than gray masking tape it's well worth the extra expense. Lacquer tape you actual can turn much like fine line tape if you apply just a little pressure while laying the tape out. (as a former house painter many , many years ago when in high school this is a trick I learned in that trade with this tape) And the bend will be wrinkle free which as I explained above is a must.

Pictured above: During the custom painting process we often must mask over areas that we recently painted. For an added measure of safety you can make the tape less likely to pull paint up if you reduce how much tack the adhesive of the tape has. This is easy to accomplish by simply sticking the tape to your CLEAN shirt or jeans before applying it to your paint surface. Another one of those custom house painting tricks which can be used in custom painting metal, hard surfaces.

I hope you found the above helpful and you can apply it to your next custom painting project. Please book mark this site and come back often as I will add more info as time allows. If you like this web site please check out our magazines as its your support of those that make this site possible.

Don Johnson

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