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Masking Tape

21 August, 2008 03:56:00 Don Johnson

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Masking material for custom painting by Don Johnson

MASKING TAPE

by Don Johnson

Sponsored by Airbrush Technique Magazine

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.

Some masking tape is solvent proof which is very important as most of the better paints used in custom painting are solvent based. Using a cheap masking tape might well cause the solvent to release the adhesive 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 so Frisket film should not be used.

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 the tape.

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 can actually turn much like fine line tape if you apply just a little pressure while laying the tape down 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.

Copyrights :Airhead Airbrush.Com , Inc. Reserved No part of this tutorial may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Airhead Airbrush. Com , Inc.

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Comments (8 posted):

cat_meow2001 on 09 April, 2009 11:11:16

I want to know what is the best brand of masking tape to use that comes in a 6 inch roll?

don johnson on 10 April, 2009 12:21:53

6 inches wide? not sure they make it that wide, 4 inch is the widest i believe i've seen 3m ib my book makes the best masking tape what are you doing and maybe we can come up with a better solution

wardo666 on 10 April, 2009 07:53:42

yes they make it that wide your best bet is to get intouch with a sign company,they use a variety of width tape for applying vynil graphics me and my wife use 250mm wide tape for applying vynil graphics

KDSilverBrush on 12 April, 2009 11:42:05

I like useing the blue painters masking tape, it's not to sticky, and doesn't allow bleeding. I did try the green auto tape, it seems to be a tougher type tape, and has more sticky to it. For bigger jobs, I use artool frisk masking, works great.

fontgeek on 18 April, 2009 10:28:00

I like the blue painters tape or the green auto tape for most applications. I also use Frog tape for more difficult surfaces due to rough or uneven textures. Transfer tape is okay for light masking, but it doesn't stick well enough if the area is going to get heavy spraying. For larger areas, I tend to use painters or auto tape for the edges, but use trashbags or large sheets of newsprint when the areas aren't going to get much spraying near them. Using huge pieces of transfer tape on easily covered areas seems a bit wasteful to me, don't get me wrong, it's great stuff when you need it, but "a penny saved is a penny earned" holds true, and adding more landfill because of wasted materials isn't great for the environment either. The large sheets of paper or the trash bags can get used over and over again.

feason on 19 April, 2009 12:32:26

Check out the new masking from TCP Global it comes in three widths and lengths can be drawn on. follow the attached link. then to the kustom shop and look for K tape http:/www.tcpglobal.com

fontgeek on 19 April, 2009 06:56:01

Sorry if there was any misunderstanding there Dean, there wasn't anything aimed at anyone in particular. I've seen plenty of articles and videos where celeb painters cover EVERYTHING with transfer tape for their masking. Too many people watch those videos or read the magazines and take what is being done as the word of God. "If Frazer does it this way, then so should I" kind of attitude causes all kinds of problems, from people not wearing protective gear, the wasting of masking material and so on just gets ingrained, and it's tougher to break bad habits than it is to learn good ones from the start. From the sounds of it, you mask pretty much like I do, where I've seen people have problems with the transfer tape and wet coats has mostly been with clear coats, where the coat goes on wet and heavy, only to be repeated in a few minutes.

fontgeek on 20 April, 2009 04:37:15

Same here Dean, but I also realize that many people read these posts, and like the videos, they want to apply everything globally, so my comments are made to answer the initial questions, but also to start people on good habits from the start. And now with youtube, the internet and videos as a whole (hole), we need to think more carefully when we explain the what, how, and why of things.

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