painting thin lines

[MrDuane]

Hi, I'm working on putting in a fence for my barn, thinking barbed wire over wood planks. with it receeding back my lines will have to be ultra thin. I've a skinny small petite brush 15/0 or E81 what ever that means, but can't seem to get the trick to do thin lines. any advice?

[dcorc]

There are several ways to do this:
- use a rigger
- use the edge of a new/good-condition one-stroke brush
- use the edge of a painting-knife
- use a liners "dagger" brush
- paint into a lubricating "couch"
- concentrate on getting one edge of your line good, then lift out unneeded paint with a dry or just-dampened brush
- concentrate on getting one edge of your line good, then overpaint to get the second edge
- use a mahl-stick or bridge to steady your hand.
- use a ruling-pen with fluid paint

Its helpful to use a ruler for straight lines - hold it tilted towards you so the front edge is above the canvas, and run the ferrule of the paintbrush along the edge.

There are several previous threads discussing how to paint thin lines. An Oils-forum search for the word "rigger" should, I'd guess, pull most of them up.

Dave

[sandman_us]

I've seen this topic here quite a few times before. Here are a a few threads that came up in doing an advance search on 'thin lines':

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=607704&highlight=thin+lines

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=527296&highlight=thin+lines



http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=581465&highlight=thin+lines

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513385&highlight=thin+lines

[stapeliad]

You can also CAREFULLY use a pizza cutter. ;)

[Mark Sheeky]

I find a tiny brush, a 000 pointed sable or synthetic, and fluid paint carefully and slowly applied is the easiest way.

Mark

[WFMartin]

As was mentioned already, lay in a line as best you can with a liner brush, and paint that has been made a bit "juicy" with medium, and then "carve" it into "thin-ness" by painting the negative space around it, using whatever color the background may be. You can do it while the line is still wet, or wait until it dries--whatever seems the easiest for you.

[ZanBarrage]

I do what William suggested. It is really the best and most controlled way of doing thin lines. A knife will work, but is less controllable sometimes. Thin brushes don't work for me. I have shakey hands :)

[KerryOriginals]

Scotch tape... use on dry surface and just lightly press one side along the line you want. Dont' burnish it down, keep it lightly adhered just on the one edge of th tape. You can mask off both sides of the line you want, leaving just the narrowest line to paint into, but, I find just one side usually works fine. Use the tip of a small brush handle and just lightly push the very edge of the tape down to prevent the paint from going under it. Then just paint in your line and while wet still carefully peel off the tape. Scotch tape is best, imo, because it is not as tacky as masking and won't pull dry paint off or leave gummy residue.

[Songwind]

I have had the best luck so far using a rigger brush and mahl stick, then painting the negative space back in when necessary.

[viking009]

A little trick William Turner used to do the rigging on ships, Paint the area with a little oil medium, Then use a rigger with WATERCOLOR, As you know oil and water dont mix, the reaction between the two thins the line to almost nothing, When the painting is varnished over no one will ever know:thumbsup:
Just my 2 cent's worth

Les