Any interior painting experts out there?

[Beeneybopper]

I am trying and failing miserably, to paint a feature wall in a F&B navy blue. I just cannot get it right. Every single time I paint I end up with 'flashing' where the colour is solid but the join lines between sweeps of the roller reflect the light back differently when viewed from the side. I've spoken to F&B and they acknowledge this can be a problem with very dark colours. They advised me to water down the paint by 10% which I did & to make sure the product was well stirred, which I did. They then advised I keep a 'wet edge line' which I always do and to work briskly. There are 4 sockets to cut around which slows things down but I can have the whole wall painted in 10 mins. I'm also conscious of maintaining a stable room temperature. I've tried with brushes only, with roller, joins 'feathered' with a brush, with paintpad. I'm out of ideas but determined to nail this. Tomorrow I'm about to try my 8th attempt!!! Please help me get it right.

For the record, the pic looks like I've left gaps but I didn't.

Bin off the F&B. Nice colours, shit paint. Take a sample to a trade decorator centre & get them to colour match it.

I'm no expert but have you tried a paint pad? I find that so much easier than a brush or roller, gives a much more even finish. Never tried a dark colour though.

F&B is superior quality paint I've been using it for 20yrs. I've also tried colour matching and it's rubbish, there's no comparison. I want to learn the perfect technique, I'm sure it just takes practise.

Yes, the last coat I tried was using a paint pad.

Definitely water down 10%. I use a small roller about 15 cm wide, not a big roller and work quickly in multiple directions. Keep loading the roller. Don't let it get dry. Put plenty of paint on the wall and keep it wet.

Don't work up and down or side to side in stripes

Farrow and Ball is hard to work with though. Its not a good technical paint. It takes experience to work with it. I find it a lot like using artists paint. I use a wide artist brush to do cutting in sometimes.

Honestly, it's not you, it's the paint. F&B have even told you that it's difficult to work with. (Although I agree that the colours can look fab when they go on nicely).

To make cutting in easier buy some frog tape and tape the buggery out of every edge and socket. It peels off beautifully to give a clean line.

The rest of my house is painted F&B with no problems but they were all light colours. I have no difficulty with cutting-in. There must be some knack to it.

F&B as well as all paint manufacturers have had to make changes to their paints recently as new rules for VOC came in recently.

I used to love painting with F&B. Not any more. Endless problems with it. The emulsions more so than their eggshell.

If you can't find a suitable alternative from another brand, try a wet edge extender. It's an add mixture which helps lengthen the wet edge time of the paint and prevent streaking etc. Do be careful with how much extended you add as it can slightly alter the colour of darker paints if you add more than the recommended amounts.

I will have a look regarding colour and come back if I find something similar in another brand.

Use little Greene instead. I found the pigments of much higher quality - far fewer coats needed for an even result esp for darker colours. And I've used both lg and f&b, no comparison as far as I'm concerned!

I use a brush with f&b first coat watered down 20% second 10% I can't get on with a roller with f&b paints I can't get even coverage.

Given that you've tried everything else I would suggest, you could try a tiny bit of floetrol added. But I have painted many houses, and I have to agree with the others who say F&B is technically very poor quality. What colour is it, I might be able to suggest a match in Mylands or Little Greene.