Masking

Try to find a low-tack tape, and use as little tape as possible. Aluminium foil and small plastic bags which you just tape around the edges are good ways to cover large surfaces.

Before you apply tape, stick it to your table, or a piece of glass once or twice to make it less sticky. Remove any tape promptly (30 min) after painting, as they set harder the longer you wait.

When removing the tape, pull back over the tape that still sticks, and keep the angle as small as possible.

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From: [email protected] (C. D. Tavares)

A good point. I often read how you are supposed to pull tape off at "a 45-degree angle" and I always thought they meant this (see below). But it doesn't work!

           /
          /  tape
         /______________
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painted surface (from side)

Then I discovered that they meant something entirely different: make a 45-degree angle in the FLAT plane (see below). This works much better!

 painted surface (from above)
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     tape          /\
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                 /   /
                /   /
                \  /
                 \/