Resist (‘Masking Fluid’, ‘Frisket’, ‘Liquid Latex’, etc.)
Testing
Always test your resist with the paper you intend to use. Apply some full strength, and some diluted 1:1 with water. Let dry and lift. Try to determine if the paper is disturbed. Mix up a strong wash and paint across the area that was masked. Are there any negative effects in the area where you had the resist? If you will be applying resist over a painted area, be sure to test the resist over the same paint you will be covering. Resists lifts some paints quite a bit.
Tools
The best tools to use with Resist are non-porous, because they are much easier to clean. Select tools made of metal, glass, plastic, and rubber. For non-porous tools, CLEAN AFTER RESIST DRIES.
You will be prone to use brushes for your first encounter, because brushes are handy, and what you are most familiar with using. Sometimes you really want that kind of stroke only a brush provides. If you must use a brush, choose only synthetic brushes. Natural hairs hold resist tenaciously. My favorites are the Princeton Summit Series 6850. No matter what kind of brush you use, get an old bar of soap in a dish, wet it, and lather up your brush by rubbing it over the soap. Wipe clean, but do not rinse. Then dip it into your resist. You will still need to wash it often (like every 2 or 3 minutes) and repeat. Use soap and warm water.
Colorant
Some manufacturers make white Resist, others add coloring. Some add coloring that settles, so you can use it white, or mix in the colorant. In general, resist dries translucent – almost clear. Obviously, if it has coloring in it, it dries to that color. White/clear resist will be difficult to see when applied over white paper, but you will be able to see what is under the resist. Whereas a colored resist (Like Pebeo, which is pale blue) will dry blue, misrepresenting the color it hides, but will be easier to see when you are applying them. You can add your own color to any resist – any of your watercolor paints will do – the paint will come up with the resist.
Consistency
Resist from the manufacturer has the consistency of thin glue. You can dilute it with water down to the consistency of 1% milk and it will still be just as effective. Do not hesitate to water down your Resist to get it to work best with the tool you are using and the effect you are after. For example, if the Resist is too thick, it will not go through a sprayer. Thinned Resist still protects the paper. Even diluted up to 1:3, the paper will be protected. However, the thinner resist gets down into the crevices of the paper and is harder to remove. I have found that anything up to 1:1 is fairly easy to remove. Anything thinner takes more effort. (Note that the brand of paper will make a difference.)
Storage
Keep your resist in a container that is air-tight as much as possible. The best container I’ve found is an ‘oiler’ with a Luer Tip. The Luer tip can be changed to best suit your need. Find a piece of wire that will fit into the tip and use it to close up and clean out the tip.
AVOID BUBBLES! Resist dries with exposure to air, and a bubble provides a lot of surface area. Bubbles will tend to turn into globs quickly. They are almost impossible to pop. So, NEVER SHAKE your resist to mix it up. If resist sits (always closed tightly) for too long, it will build a film on top which will need to be removed. When it’s out in the open, this usually takes about 10 minutes. Closed up tightly it might not skim over for 2 months
Application
When it is time to use it, put some out in a very small reservoir – the smallest glass container you have. (I started off using shot glasses, but even they are too big. I finally discovered Chinese Mini Liquor Glasses. They are tiny with a stem that makes them easier to hold on to. They are tapered, so the bottom comes to a point. They are about $1/each on Amazon.) If the resist seems too thick to apply the way you want, add a drop of water to it and stir.
A film will form fairly quickly over resist in an open container. You will first notice that your tool is not picking up resist very well when you dip it. Or maybe you see a small glob appear as you’re applying the resist. This means there is a film building over the resist. Take another tool – a hard and slightly porous rubber works best; grab and twist the film out like you might wind up cotton candy onto its cone. Immediately add a little more resist.
As you work, select the tool that is most appropriate. I have 3 different sized Styli (You can find a huge variety of these on Amazon. Look for ‘Clay Stylus’.) The initial sense is that you can’t go very far with one dip, but you will get over this. If you want to cover more area, switch to a rubber brush. Never try to ‘spread’ resist. Apply thickly by dabbing whenever possible. Metal clay sculpting tools can be useful, and they come in a variety of shapes.
One tool that you should not be without is a RULING PEN. There are many styles of these, and a large range in quality. (A good Ruling Pen will glide smoothly over the surface, hold a decent amount of fluid and dispense it consistently.) You can find one on Amazon for under $10 that works moderately well. If you find you really use it a lot, look on Etsy for better ones and even handcrafted ones.
Ruling Pens are indispensible for nice consistent lines. Used in conjunction with a straight-edge or a French curve, these tools offer a lot in terms of line work. They can make extremely fine lines, and can be used in quick strokes to provide brush-like lines. They work extremely well with resist, and cleanup is a snap. (After the resist dries run a tongue depressor (or thick paper) through them. They can be dipped to fill, or filled directly from an oiler. An added surprise with Ruling Pens – they are also great for applying watercolor. Try filling a pen with a very strong mix (preferably a Sinker mixed with a Floater). Wet the paper – spray, brush, whatever. Then run your filled pen across the paper – thru the wet areas. You immediately have created a painting with a variety of elements!
Covering Larger areas
If you need to mask off a large area, you can use masking tape in conjunction with Resist. Use the tape for covering the large open areas, and use Resist to fill in the areas between the tape and the edges.
The ‘danger’ spots occur where the Resist meets the tape or the seams where two pieces of tape overlap. It is very important to make sure all of these places are well-sealed. Try to keep seams to a minimum (wider tape, etc). Seal all edges with a layer of resist, let these dry and repeat. Water and paint magically get thru tiny seams and holes. If you’re masking over a painted area, the resist will tend to lift more paint than the tape, and this may show – so keep this effect in mind.
Controlling a Shaped Wash
You can use resist to create a ‘border’ to facilitate a large area wash that has complex edges. This can relieve you of worrying about your paint going where you don’t want it. This ‘resist dam’ allows you to relax and concentrate of the wash itself – you can tilt the board with more confidence that your paint won’t run into the forbidden spaces. For this kind of application, it is best if your Resist is fairly thick. Edges created with resist CAN provide you with a very crisp edge if you use a Floater and use gravity to help encourage it up against the edge of resist.
Removing Resist from Painting
First and Foremost: NEVER try to get up any Resist when either the Resist is wet or the paper is wet. Always let resist dry before trying to remove. Even if you accidentally drop a big blob of resist in an area you did not want it. Do NOT try to dab it up. Let it completely dry and then remove it. If it is a ‘deep’ blob, it will take a long time to dry. You can take the corner of a paper towel and careful dip it into the blob so that most of the Resist is drawn up into the towel. Then it will dry quicker.
I mostly use a rubber pickup to remove the Resist from the paper. You can find these on Amazon listed as ‘crepe rubber cement eraser’, and are about .50 each. You can use your fingers/thumb if you don’t have a lot to remove. Just be sure your hands are clean. Another tool I sometimes use is one of those tiny pencil-like erasers. Keep a Kneaded Eraser handy for picking up the crumb, and a small handy receptacle for dropping your crumbs in.
Softening Edges
Resist always leaves an edge, which can be off-putting. Edges are more painterly if they have some ‘lost lines’. It can be very difficult to dither/fade the edges left by Resist. There are a couple of approaches to soften the edges caused by resist. One is to go back after the resist is removed and scrub those areas. The right pigments (Sinkers) can be edge-softened after drying with light scrubbing. In order to simulate a ‘fade’ with resist you must apply it granularly – like spray or sling it on. You can also thin resist whenever you want a ‘faded’ effect. When you go to remove the resist some of the thin resist will remain in the crevices of the paper so some of the Resist will remain with the paint over it, creating a microscopically-dappled area, which appears ‘faded’ to the naked eye.
Progressive Layering
Most artists that use resist use it only to protect the paper, but resist can be applied over a layer of paint to protect just parts of that layer. This is a form of negative painting. Apply mask just to brightest areas, apply a wash at a light value and let dry. Repeat, increasing the size of the masked area and the darkness of the wash each time.
Cleanup
If the tool is non-porous, LET RESIST DRY completely, and then rub the dried Resist off with your hand.
If the tool is porous, CLEAN IMMEDIATELY. Resist gets into the fibers of porous materials, most notably natural brush hairs and cloth/paper. (Watercolor paper has sizing which prevents the Resist from going down in the paper. Paper with more sizing does better in this regard. Resist applied to blotting paper will never come off.) If the material is porous, wash it out at least every 2-3 minutes it has had resist on it. Use soap and warm water and clean thoroughly. If possible, coat the tool/brush with soap before dipping it into the Resist. I use a leftover bar soap and rub my wet brush vigorously in it, then wipe with a paper towel (don’t rinse the soap out).
Dried resist CAN be cleaned from porous material by using Rubber Cement Solvent. (I use a product called “Bestine”) It has a strong odor – I would guess offensive to anyone that cannot tolerate things like turpentine or acetone. This stuff will not return a brush to new, but it will extend its use.