Use Molotow Masking Fluid Markers to save back the whites in your watercolour painting without ever tearing the paper when you remove it. Many masking fluids will remove some of the surface of your paper but Molotow (pronounced molotoff) doesn’t damage the paper at all. Molotow Masking Fluid rubs off in crumbs leaving little bits to brush away like a rubber eraser. And your sparkling white highlights are revealed! The refillable marker is available in two nib sizes, so you also don’t need to worry about ruining a brush anymore.
Molotow Masking Fluid will change the minds of those painters who won’t use masking fluid because they are afraid to tear their paper.
Six methods for application
Masking fluid is applied to dry paper so that it sits on top and doesn’t soak into the paper, then let dry itself and then watercolour or an acrylic wash can be painted over.
A common method for applying masking fluid is with a watercolour brush. Some artists save a brush just for this because it gets gunked up and can’t be used for much else afterwards, although I have found you can prevent ruining a brush by coating the hairs with some washing up liquid before you start using the brush. But if you prefer not to use a brush then as these are marker pens, you already have the applicator built in. There are two sizes of nib in the pump markers – 2mm and 4mm and you can change the 2mm nib out for a harder tipped 1.5mm nib that is a lot finer.
The white areas were masked and rubbed off.
The blue lines are masking fluid left on to show how it looks.
The crumbs show what the masking fluid looks like when you rub it off.
Blue paint is a watercolour wash.
Green paint is an acrylic wash.
I didn’t pump the marker after having used it a lot, so the nib was not full and so the masking was too thin and this one wasn’t fully masked. When I rubbed off the masking fluid the paint had got through the bare areas.
with the 1.5 spare tip instead.
This gives you much finer lines.
The markers are easily refillable with the 30ml refill bottle, so it is economical and the refill bottle comes with a nozzle that could be used for application, though it comes out quite quickly, so it not very controllable. You can also squeeze some out and apply it using a brush. For this test I used a brush without first working a drop of washing up liquid into the hairs as I usually wood and after using it with the masking fluid I dropped it into my water pot right away and it cleaned up perfectly. You can also use the refill masking fluid to fill an empty Molotow brush marker if you’d like the thick-to-thin variation that you can get with a brush nib.
applied with a brush. The thick pool of masking liquid stained the paper, but you would never normally do this thick of an area.- it was were I poured it to dip the brush in.
filled with Molotow Masking Fluid refill. Good for thick and thin lines.
Quantity to apply
The markers lay the masking fluid down evenly and thinly, just as required. You will need to pump the marker occasionally to be sure the tip is filled, if the tip is a bit dry it will not lay down enough and the paint can seep through when it is applied. You pump the marker to fill the nib from the barrel by placing the nib on a scrap of paper on your table and pressing down a few times, you will see the blue fluid flow into the tip. If you are using the brush marker you also need to pump these but not on the table, instead you pump the Molotow Brush Markers by turning the cap around and pumping into the the slot on top. Using either a brush or the refill bottle as an applicator can mean areas of masking fluid that are too thick and in my testing those very thick areas left blue stains on the paper. So the key is to apply just enough but not too much!
Removing the Masking Fluid
The masking fluid is blue so you can see your marks while you are painting. I painted over the dried masking liquid with both a watercolour wash (Ultramarine Blue) and an acrylic wash (Phthalo Green). It worked equally well with the watercolour paint and the acrylic that was used like watercolour (with a lot of water). There was no bleed-through the masking liquid, it was bright white and it all removed completely in small crumbs. (I also tried it with light and heavy applications of acrylic paint, but as I expected it didn’t work because the masking fluid was sealed under the acrylic.) The bottle warns to remove the masking fluid from your dried painting within two days, this is standard practice for all masking fluids, they get harder to remove as they age.
Click on the underlined link to go to the current offer on the Molotow Masking Liquid on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.
Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses is free for orders of £39 or more.
8 thoughts on “Molotow Masking Fluid Markers – Easy to Apply and No Paper Tearing”
I could not remove Molotov masking fluid from Fabriano
600gsm paper .. it ruined one of my paintings. Very
disappointing 🙁
Hi Claudia
Sorry to read about your disappointing experience. Could it be that the paper was wet when the masking fluid was applied? This can make it impossible for Masking Fluid to be removed unfortunately. Only apply to dry paper.
Many thanks
Lisa
I really loved the ease of using these
markers and didn’t have any issues with
paper tearing, but they did occasionally
leave behind a nasty blue stain on my paper
that would ruin paintings so I quit using
them. I would shake the pens very well
before using, my papers were always dry
upon application, and I didn’t notice any
pattern to the staining (only certain papers,
etc) so I really couldn’t pinpoint the problem.
My best guess was that the frisket inside
some of the pens was old and wouldn’t mix
properly before application? Who knows!
After it happened twice, I gave them up for
colorless frisket.
Thanks for the tip Tonya. It’s always good to hear from experienced users.
I applied Molotov to dry paper,applied my watercolors, let dry for 2
hours then tried to remove this masking fluid but I could not get it
off. I used an eraser , then a tried a dry towel, my finger, dried ball
of masking fluid , nothing works. I can not recommend this
product.
Hi Maureen
I am very surprised. That shouldn’t have happened.
Can I ask a few questions to try to figure out what went wrong?
Have you used other masking fluids in a similar manner to how you used this one?
What paper did you use?
Did you stretch the paper?
How thick was the paint on top of the mask?
How thickly did you apply the masking fluid?
When it came out of the marker did the masking fluid appear dried up or too thick or separated or anything unusual?
It’s a marvellous masking fluid, so I’d like to help figure out what went wrong.
Grafix shall have ‘rubber cement pick-up’ to remove masking fluid. Do you sell them? I cannot find them (or similar)at Jackson’s or in Germany. Thank you a lot!
Hi Ingrid
That looks like a great tool!
We looked at a few brands and chose the Frisket Maskaway and we are in the process of getting it into stock.
I hope you like it.
Thanks for letting us know about them, we love product suggestions!
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