What is the best way to accomplish this #2.

Since I had such a great response to my last question I thought I'd roll the dice and try another one. The faces are painted on these rocking horses and one of the most difficult parts is painting the mane. The mane follows the shape of the head but is not always the same distance from the edge. It is also curved but not necessarily a circular curve. I can draw the line dividing the painted and unpainted areas using using french curves as my guide but I also need to mask off the area that shouldnt be painted.

My solution was to mask the curve off using very narrow strips of painters tape following the curve much like a computer draws a curve using short straight lines.

Does anyone have any better solutions to masking off a curved shape?

Maybe painting the mane is not the way to go, maybe use wood to create the mane. Some one here made a rocking horse with a wood mane and looked incredable. I can't remember who, maybe some one else can remember or the one who created it will speak up. I will look to see if I can find it.

Found it, check it out http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15539&highlight=rocking

Tom's got a great solution. If you don't want to do that then get some card board (Not corregated but crad board and make a mask. Apply the mask to the part you don't want to paint then paint away.

1/8" Pin strippers tape. The kids use it to tape off there flames then tape up to it with wider tape.

This is the one that Tom was referring to. I made the mane from walnut, and thought it looked a lot better than the painted one in the magazine article.

If you can draw the line using French curves, then use 2" blue masking tape to mask off the entire area. Draw the line with a felt-tipped pen, then draw it again using an XActo knife guided along the same French curves. Peel up the areas you don't want masked.

If it's to be two-color, wash the whole area with the first color before you lay down the tape & cut out the mask. The second color will go on over the first color.