b"Decorating 101Four ingenious Make your Paint a sharp linepaint hackspaintbrushes lastusing masking tape These hacks are guaranteed to make the painting process easier. Your paint finish is only as goodGetting the most crisp, clean as your preparation and theand seriously straight paintHow to correctly open equipment you use. Choosinglines is an art form. and close a paint canquality paintbrushes will get theFirst, use masking tape to best performance out of yourmask off the area you wantpaint, so its important to lookto fill with your feature colour. While a screwdriver may bearound a full can of paint.after and protect them properly.Then, paint along the edges of your first choice of tool to useOnce the job is done, someBefore you start painting, takebrushes, there are effective your tape with the same colour when opening a paint can, adecorators like to cover the topsome painters tape and wrap itand eco-friendly ways to do this.paint that is already on the wall. Resene Can Opener is a farof the paint can with plasticaround the ferrule (where theMake sure you remove all theThis will bleed through better option. The flat tip ensureswrap, place the lid on securelybristles meet the metal). Makeleftover paint on your brush underneath the tape and seal no damage is done to the groove,and store it upside down. Thesure its nice and tight, with halfby wiping it onto disposablethe edge, so when you paintwhile the looped end makes itpaint will create a tight sealon the metal of the handle andmaterials such as old pieces on your feature colour and takeeasy to grip and work with.around the lid and will remainhalf on the bristles. Doing thisof cardboard. When the paintoff the tape, you end up withTo open a paint can, gentlyfresh. Make sure you store paintstep ensures paint wont be righthas dried, you can recycle these a perfectly sharp line.lever the lid loose by workingin a cool and dry place, awayup against the ferrule, whichthis will help prevent excess The bleed-through occurs your way round the lip and voila!from extreme heat or cold will stop it from drying in thepaint going down the drain.because the texture on your wall To get it back on, make sure theand out of reach of children.head of the brush and splayingInstead of washing youroften has a light orange peel lip is nice and clean by wiping itRemember to write on the canthe bristles out, meaning yourpaintbrushes under a runningstippled texture. When you put with a clothpaint build-up canwhere you used the paint beforepaintbrush will last a lot longer.tap, wash them in a bucket masking tape on and paint on affect the quality of the seal,you store it so it's easier to findOnce youve finished painting,of clean water. Add a littletop, the paint invariably bleeds causing the rim to rust or make the right paint if you need tosimply remove the tape.dishwashing liquid or soap ifinto the gaps where the texture it impossible to remove. touch up a room later. When it comes to cleaningneeded. Once you have washedis. By painting with the existing Slowly put the lid back on,them, transfer to a second bucketcolour first, it fills those gaps and working your way around thefilled with clean water, thengives you a perfect straight line.sides. To prevent denting orPour your heart out Resenesqueeze out excess water from damaging the lid by hammeringTired of getting paint built upParsley.the bristles. Dont throw outdirectly onto it, take a smallaround the rim of your paint can?the water in either bucket block of wood and hammer ontoSimply cross two pieces of maskingimmediatelywait until the next that to get the lid back in placetape over the rim of your paint canday. By this time, the paint will or use a soft mallet.to form a V shape, making surehave settled to the bottom, and As paintbrushes can transferthere is an extra length of tape onyou will be able to separate it surface contaminants back intoeach side after the crossover point.from the water. Pour the Tuck the extra tape underneath the the can, always tip as muchcrossover point to form a triangle.Watchclear water part onto paint as you need for yourNow your paint can has a pouringgrass or a garden current session of painting into spout to help decant your paint intoarea, scrape outa separate Resene paint pot ora Resene paint pot or tray. the paint solidstray. This also saves you luggingand let them dry Wall painted inthen dispose of inResene Pohutukawa. Watch the videos, visit www.masterstrokebyresene.com/ask-an-expert/three-ingenious-paint-hacks-from-our-experts your rubbish bin.masterstrokebyresene.com 7"