"Robert11" wrote in message
. ..
Hello:

Will be painting a portion of a ceiling, but not the whole thing.

So, I am faced with the problem of painting a nice, straight (junction)
line.

I thought I would just use the 3M Blue tape, but have read that this is
really only good for large "splatters" and protection, and not really good
for trying to define a line.

Reason apparently being, that no matter what one does, a little paint
always
runs under the tape by capillary action if you paint over the tape in
trying
to make the straight, smooth line.

So, how does one do this ?

Is there a special brush, or... ?

Special techniques, etc. ?

Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
B.



Apply the tape & press/roll the edge down tight.

(Here's the trick!)
Seal the edge of the tape with a light coat of paint
that matches the color of the current ceiling color,
and let it dry. The color match doesn't even have to
perfect, though the-closer-the-better, obviously.

Paint with new color and let dry.

Carefully remove tape. If you inspect the line carefully
(you might need a magnifying glass) you will probably be
able to tell that wicking/capillary action has occurred,
but it's the same color as the old paint and is nearly
invisible. The new paint has a nice sharp edge.

I've used this trick many times and have had people ask
me how I get such perfect edges (see above).

Caveat - if you don't press the tape down to the surface
you can still wind up with blobs of paint getting underneath,
but it will LOOK like a BLOB, rather than the feathery
pattern that you get with wicking/capillary action.

Regular white masking tape seems to work just as well as
the blue stuff.

You might want to practice on a piece of scrap just to see
what you can expect.

Good luck