Seeking interior painting expertise?

Question

My boyfriend and I are painting his apartment and attempting to experiment with a few creative designs. I started this really awesome art nouveau inspired design with space and lines (however vague that sounds), but the lines won't stop bleeding through the tape. I outlined my designs with masking tape, lightly and carefully painted them in, waited for the paint to dry, and removed the masking. Each time, my lines were frayed and appeared lacey and bled. We're trying to achieve a pristine, professional-looking effect. We've tried just about everything the either of us could think of combined. What can be done to pull off the look of the effect we're going for with clean, straight-edged (unbled) lines?

Thanks to everyone for the assortment of suggestions.

P.s. To those with a similar problem, we also learned that the tints we were mixing with the paint were thinning the consistency and making the paint watery. This was the original contributor to the bleeding. We discovered that since adding certain brands of tint loosens the paint, once added, the paint must sit for a bit and thicken to it's original consistency. Once thickened, it's less likely to bleed through the tape, this in addition to the tips the gentlemen suggested about stickier tape and spoon depression.

Answer 1

i am a painting contractor and the person who told you to press the edge down with a spoon is correct ,although we use putty knifes,bleed through usually is a result of not blading the edge, the brand of tape makes a difference too, when we do striping or faux work, we use 3m 20/20 or 20/40 tape or a brand called intertape both are very sticky and will prevent bleed through

Answer 2

i lately painted a really sturdy stripe round my room type of as a border. the perfect way i did it became to actauly draw on the wall witha pencil like i wanted it 12 inches down and 10 inches huge so with a outdoor stick i marked 12 and 22 and drew my strains in the course of the room. used a sponge to carefully do the bottom and maximum obvious edges takes endurance besides the undeniable fact that it looks efficient!!

Answer 3

i recently painted a solid stripe around my room kind of as a border. the way i did it was to actauly draw on the wall witha pencil like i wanted it 12 inches down and 10 inches wide so with a yard stick i marked 12 and 22 and drew my lines around the room. used a sponge to carefully do the bottom and top edges takes patience but it looks amazing!!

Answer 4

The do it yourself shows seldom show a close-up of taped off painting, because it will always bleed through, same with stenciling. Using (blue) painters tape will help, but is not perfect.

Answer 5

use blue painters masking tape. when you have it in place, use a spoon on the edges to press it firmly to the wall. perfection is impossible, but this will help. besides, great art is best admired from a distance!! just serve wine!! good luck, hope this helps!