Masking Tape Recommendations for Watercolor Painting

In this blog post I'm sharing the two types of masking tape I use that have worked well for me so far. This is just based on my own limited experience since I know there are many different types of tape out there that can be used as masking off areas for watercoloring.

Here are a few that I have seen people use, in case you want to 'shop' around and try them out. I just can't recommend them (yet) since I haven't use them myself.

• Regular masking tape

• Frog Tape (green colored)

• Delicate Surfaces Tape (lavender colored)

• Washi Tape

• Water Activated Brown Tape

Here are the two tapes I use:

• 1/4" Blue Masking Tape

• 1" White Masking Tape (bought from Blick or MisterArt)

  • A note on the white masking tape: I did find that on certain substrates (like wood or MDF), if leave the tape for more than a few days because I stopped a painting midway, the tape will tend to start to peel off. I believe it’s because it has been allowed to get wet and because I dry with a blowdryer, the heat removes the adhesive.

And here's how I use the two different tapes:

• I use the 1/4" blue tape for masking out gridlines on watercolor mixing charts, for example.

• I use the 1" white tape for masking off borders of paintings and keeping them taped down to the surface I'm working on

You can click below to watch a more in depth YouTube video about the masking tapes I use!

I hope that this short but sweet list of masking tape recommendations was helpful! Even though it’s a miscellaneous supply, it can be an important one when it comes to finding a reliable tape to keep your paper down and the paint from bleeding where you don’t want it to go!

I would love to know if you have a recommended masking tape that you've used! Let me know down below in the comments.

Thanks for reading!
Susan

P.S. The video above is one of the supply videos from inside the Paint With Me Community that I lead. I like to share the supplies that I think work well and why I use them. I hope you enjoy seeing a little "behind the scenes" of the type of things I share with my members!

You can find out more about it at paintwithmecommunity.com.

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