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Liquid Frisket and Bristol

Ok I have had the most rotten luck when it comes to liquid masking fluid/liquid frisket and bristol. I've heard it can be used and is "oh so easy" to get off, but this is not the case with me.

Every time I use it when I take it off (by lightly erasing it off with an eraser as the instructions indicate) it not only strips a layer off of the paper changing the way the paper absorbs color, but in most cases it rips unevenly, even when I'm being very careful!

Am I missing something? Anyone else have this problem? What papers is liquid frisket good for if not bristol? I can only imagine what damage it would do to watercolor paper.

Call me old-fashioned, but when it comes to friskets, I prefer the real thing, a fresh x-acto knife, and matte medium to seal the edges. Never had a problem getting frisket film off, although admittedly it is a little more expensive. However, I still have the huge roll I bought a couple years back and keep a mini-one in my paint bag. At least for me, a roll lasts awhile. I don't think I've heard anything positive mentioned about liquid frisket. Can't go wrong often with the real thing. :)

I tend to be biased toward the frisket film as well. I tried the Windsor and Newton masking fluid on some rough surfaced illustration board, and it because one with the surface, never to be removed. When it did work, it would leave a faint yellow stain. It behaves much better with painted surfaces, so you might want to try spraying on a layer of gesso first. As alternative, you may want to go to your local hobby store, and put up a jar of Woodlands Scenics latex rubber, or a similar brand. It's intended for making molds, but it's the exact same stuff as the Windsor & Newton, but thicker, and it comes in white, so you might have better luck with that. I use it as a mask when I paint resin figures, and it works great.
However,it is a really good idea to test it first on something you aren't going to miss if it doesn't work. In fact, it's a good idea to do that with any media or technique.

Eh, I never had much luck with the liquid frisket and bristol either, but I did get it to work properly on watercolor paper, believe it or not. I'm with the other two in going with the frisket film and a nice X-acto knife instead. It works sooooooo much better.

I've had fairly good luck with masking fluid on cold press illustration board, if that helps =).

The Liquid Frisket is basically liquid latex. It's crap unless you are woeking with vellums. Get the films. I don't know what Higgins meant by matte media, but I tended to seal my edges with a roller or the round end of a paint brush. I have NEVEr used the films with liquid media, and think that there would be significant capillary action causing the paint to creep under the film.

I have used plane masking tape, and black photgraphy tape with wet media with moderate success, but then I worked on vell7um there as well.

Scott

Scott Ruggels said: The Liquid Frisket is basically liquid latex. It's crap unless you are woeking with vellums. Get the films. I don't know what Higgins meant by matte media, but I tended to seal my edges with a roller or the round end of a paint brush. I have NEVEr used the films with liquid media, and think that there would be significant capillary action causing the paint to creep under the film.

Yes, liquid mediums will creep under the frisket, unless you use something like matte medium first to seal the edges (after smoothing them out), which is what I mentioned. Basically, what that does is the same thing the paint would, creep just under the edge of the frisket, but it's clear and you won't see it, so when you apply the color, it stays within the bounds of the shape you cut out since it can't creep under the frisket -- the matte medium has already done that. Very nice, crisp lines with paint, especially with things like cold-press illo board.

I feel as if I've been missing some great artistic secret, here. I did not know of this "frisket". Could someone give me an example of when one would be used, maybe a piece that used this, if it doesn't derail the conversation too much? :)?

I have actually used Liquid Frisket on many of my works, both on bristol and illustration board, without any problems. I apply it, let it dry for about 5-10 minutes, then airbrush/paint as needed, let the board/paper dry completely, then I gently rub off the frisket with an eraser or even my bare hand. It comes right off and I have never ever had it tear the paper or lift off paint. It does sometimes leave traces of itself so you have to go back and make sure you got it all, but other than that it works great!

No stains, no issues. If I can find the bottle again, I'll post about what brand I use. It works well though and never gave me problems. I even went as far once as to force my acrylics/board to dry by blow drying it (and the frisket as well) and it did not melt or stick to the board in any bad way at all!

Maybe I'm just lucky when it comes to liquid frisket. I do find that applying it can be a pain though, so I tend to mask large areas with paper + masking tape and only use the frisket for curves/edges that can't be covered with paper or tape.

I have never tried using masking fluid on Bristol board, but it works fine on regular watercolor paper. It's big problem is that it kills brushes like nothing else. So yeah, general warning to anyone that wants to try this stuff: NEVER use your expensive marten hair brushes with masking fluid.
I only use my oldest synthetic brushes that are too worn to use in regular painting.

Maybe dampness might be the issue in your case? If the paper isn't dry it may absorb the fluid when it should just lay on top, and removing it will be a pain. Make sure your paper is completely dry when you apply AND remove it. Also, don't wet your brush before dipping it into the stuff (you can moisten it with your mouth to fix the hairs etc, just make sure it's not dripping wet).

i toyed little with frisket, but try hitting it with a hair dryer for a few seconds. it usually helps me when i need to release adhesives and such (tape on watercolor paper, acrylic on plastic or glass, etc).

Tod said: I feel as if I've been missing some great artistic secret, here. I did not know of this "frisket". Could someone give me an example of when one would be used, maybe a piece that used this, if it doesn't derail the conversation too much? :)?

Frisket, or Masquing Fluid, is often used in painting (Particularly Watercolor Painting, but it has uses elsewhere) to keep an area white while working with paint around it. It has many different applications, although a practical one is keeping a general area of a portrait clean and pure while painting backgrounds.

This painting I did here uses Frisket to keep the areas white white in this painting, which used broad washes to create the background.

I hope this helps you understand a bit better.

Richard Bartrop said: I tend to be biased toward the frisket film as well. I tried the Windsor and Newton masking fluid on some rough surfaced illustration board, and it because one with the surface, never to be removed. When it did work, it would leave a faint yellow stain.

I have the same stuff, and I get the same results. I spent $10 on that bottle too, and after it's ruined 3 pieces so far it now sits on my shelf.

It stinks because there's SO many instances where I'd want to use it. But half way to reaching for the bottle I just pause and go "no... I'll just paint my watercolor VERY carefully"... which kills it, since 9 times out of 10 when I use watercolor it's for very splotchy, loose backings of color.

Is there a particular brand that works better than others?

I used frisket for the first time a few weeks ago, and found it to work pretty well ... it protected the areas I wanted to leave white, generally, but a few little spots got through. Probably I didn't apply it right, knowing me. I used it on illustration board of some kind, with watercolour, and I had no problems getting it off afterwards with a little rubber cement remover thing. (Looks like an eraser, but feels like a little square of weird, bumpy, hard rubber suff). It peeled off like a sunburn! =D

Anyhoo, it worked for me. I used nice, new brushes to apply it (didn't have an old one on me), and it didn't even wreck them -- maybe because I washed the brushes well with dishsoap immediately afterwards. If anyone needs to know the brand I think it was Burma something ... I'll check the next time I go downstairs. It smells like old fish heads!!