Clear sealer before paint?
I have a lot of stairs to paint, where the treads are mahogany and the risers are poplar which need to be painted.
I don’t have a steady enough hand to paint this interface without taping, and I’m concerned about bleed through.
I see numerous YouTube videos about taping, then caulking, and then painting, then pulling the tape away before the caulk or paint has even dried. But this unpainted poplar will take a coat of primer and likely two coats of paint. These videos seem to never show more than one coat of paint being needed.
So what I think I want is a clear sealer to paint over the tape-to-riser interface to prevent bleed through, and I want this sealer to be easily paintable without sanding.
I’ve been thinking of using brushed on shellac to cover the entire riser, both to seal off the tape and to serve as a stain blocker between the paint and the riser. Does this seem like a reasonable solution? Is there an easier to apply, less runny alternative to shellac?