Friday, June 29, 2012

Making Your Own Semi-Opaque Decorative Tape

 

 

Washi tapes are all the rage, and who doesn’t love them! But they are also quite expensive, as are many of the other decorative tapes, washi or not.

As wonderful as they are, I have found that there are some ways to make some pretty cute washi tape substitutes with items you already have on hand! Obviously they are not strictly speaking washi tapes, as they are not made from rice paper, but to all extent and purposes, they come pretty close, especially due to the semi-translucency!

 

 

I want to start us off with the quickest and easiest way and also my favorite. Probably because I am REALLY into print tape!

 

Books, Magazines and Papers

 

You will need:

Regular tape, like Scotch

Old book pages

Bone folder (optional)

 

 

All you do is tear a strip of the Scotch tape, and tape it over a section of your book page.

 

 

Smooth it down evenly. Gently pull it off.

 

 

 

Do yourself a favor and leave one little corner of the tape on your finger and not smoothed on the page. It makes pulling it back up so much easier! You can just trim it off before using the tape.

And there you have it!

 

 

 

 

If find this works especially well on old book pages, as the print comes off easier and with only a thin layer of paper, which retains some of the translucency of the tape! With newer prints you may have to burnish the tape with the back of your thumbnail or a bone folder to get it down really well. The newer paper doesn’t tend to stick as easily, but with some pressure and rubbing while smoothing the tape down, you can make it come up!

You can go in any direction to get different effects. I LOVE to use old dictionaries for this, as I can customize the definitions too!

 

You can of course do this with pictures, patterns and anything else you can find!

Here I made a random patterned piece of tape from the printed dress from an old magazine page.

 

 

I also really like to use scraps from my scrapbooking papers! I tend to mostly use 6x6 scrapbooking pages, as the smaller print works better for the smaller sized cards and layouts I do for Project Life. The smaller pattern also makes it ideal for some homemade tape!

 

 

You can see how you can get two different effects from pressing down only a little bit, or really pushing it down with a bone folder.

 

 

Old dictionary pages usually come off very cleanly, but the newer scrapbook pages may require some trimming along the edge  if you want the really clean look! See the raggedy edge of the one in the middle and compare to the tape I used in the photo below! I just trimmed it with some scissors.

 

I usually use the decorative tape strips with some adhesive to affix on my project. To me it is the quickest way.

Here are some examples:

 

 

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You can however take double-sided tape and wax paper and make self-adhesive tape.

Your print will be mirror-imaged with this method however!

Do use this method, cut some wax paper into long strips, wide enough to accommodate your tape.

As above, tear off a strip of tape and place it on your book page. Just position it enough so it doesn’t come up by itself. Then take your strip of wax paper and place it over the tape on the book page. Now press down and smooth it out.

Carefully pull the wax paper together with the tape off the page. You might have to fold back the wax paper at one end a little bit and loosen the tape edge off the paper.

Voila - a self-adhesive strip of printed tape. With some fuzzy book texture to boot! To use your tape, just cut off the required amount, peel back the wax paper and stick it down!

 

Napkins

 

This is very similar to the method above, only this time we are using cheap napkins to provide the pattern.

And I really do mean cheap napkins. The less coated, the more flimsy and the less sturdy the napkins are, the better they work in this project. So check out your local dollar store for some napkins with groovy patterns!

You basically do the same thing as in the very first method.

Tear off a strips of tape, place it over the section of the napkin you would like to use, press down, then gently pull back. And there you have it. You can affix your tape with some adhesive of choice. If the napkin doesn’t come off easily, you may have to burnish the tape down a little too. Every napkin is different in that respect, so trial and error is the way with this!

You could also press the tape down irregularly and get the “torn” look when you pull it back fast.

 

 

The top two blue tapes are made from napkins, the others are made from books and magazines.

 

Printing Labels

 

This method isn’t really strictly speaking “tape” but it can serve that  same purpose and it gives you endless possibilities in terms of colors and patterns.

I saw this article called "Last Minute Japanese Tape” on the Good Look Cookbook site  the other day and thought I’d mention it here too, since it really fits the topic here today! Check it out if you get a chance!

 

 

The advantage of this method is that you can also use your digital stash! However, the drawback is that it’s not tape and it has no translucency to it. But sometimes that’s a good thing, so it’s something to keep in the back of your mind when you are looking for that decorative touch on your cards, layouts or other crafts!

58 comments:

  1. very informative post! Thank you.

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  2. Delighted that I found you and this great technique. I have been stamping on white medical tape for a while, but with these techniques, there is no limit to what one can create! Thank you!

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  3. Hi Nancy and Kay! Thank you for your comments! I'm glad you are getting some inspiration from this post! Stamping on medical tape is great too, but yes, more limited for sure!

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  4. This is brilliant! I will have to try it! Thank you!

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  5. oh how fabulous...thank you for this!

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  6. Very clever! I happen to have some clear printing labels...I'm so trying that also!

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  7. Superbe idée , je vais essayer
    merci beaucopup
    biz

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  8. What a good idea. Simple and I can think of a variety of applications. Great way to add sweet detail.

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  9. Thanks for sharing, have to try this :-)

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  10. Greetings from South Africa! Thank you for the wonderful info on making your own decorated tape. I sometimes do this with photocopies from my Toner type copier. (Black toner only) . I am also interested in viewing your Gluten free section as I have to avoid oats, barley and wheat in my diet. Thanks again, Sue

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  11. Great simple idea loads of scope thank you for sharing x

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  12. Can you use cellotape? AWESOME TUTORIAL BY THE WAY!!! Thank you!! :)

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  13. Cellotape should work just fine :)

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  14. This is an awesome DIY project, so many ideas that can be done with this is running thru my head....and thanks for sharing it with us! Carla

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  15. This is an awesome DIY project, so many ideas that can be done with this is running thru my head....and thanks for sharing it with us! Carla

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  16. I'm under the weather today and the ol' brain isn't working... can you make a sister post to this with all the applications and projects these creative tapes can be used with?.... the readers will be encouraged to post theirs also in the comments section; it'll be great! Thanks! :)

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  17. My gosh this is brilliant! And exactly what I have been looking for to by-pass purchasing all of those expensive washi tapes! I remember doing this as a kid too... how many art techniques I learned as a child and forgot as an adult! Thanks for sharing this Birgit :))

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  18. This is such a wonderful idea, thank you so much for sharing it! Decorative and washi tapes are really expensive here, so it's going to be a fantastic substitute for me and I can't wait to try it now :) Thank you!!!

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  19. Awesome idea! What a great way to customize a page and it's so much more versatile. Thanks for sharing.

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  20. maravillosaaaaaaaaaaaaa gracias lo hare ya que aqui no consigo el material de las cintas gracias

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  21. pero ojo!!!! la cita scocht común deja rastros de pegamento que en poco tiempo arruinarán cualquier trabajo!
    el papel japonés trabaja, justamente para evitar eso.

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  22. Thank you so much for the excellent ideas!
    Love it

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  23. that is SOOOOO cool ... LOVE this idea!

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  24. what a great way to add dimension either by words, color or design!!!

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  25. Just tried this, and "Voila"!
    Awesome idea!!!! Thank you!

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  26. No luck with this tip -- the Scotch Gift Wrap Tape literally lifted the words off of the page and left blank spaces. :-(

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  27. Thank you! I will try this soon!

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  28. Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!

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  29. I love this! I had no idea you could do this so I'm excited to try it on some of my old books! Thank you so much!

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  30. Oh man...did you get my brain racing...so many ideas now!! Thank you!! :)

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  31. Great idea and wonderfully explained. Thank you

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  32. Cool idea. I wonder if over time the tape will yellow and peel off like I have seen tape do in old scrapbooks?

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  33. It's a such great idea! Thankyou very much!

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  34. Thanks so much for Sharing your fabulous idea!! It's fabulous!

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  35. This is great... Thank you for sharing it.

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  36. How smart! I am forever cutting up my old French/English dictionary I got for free at a yard sale to use the words for my craft projects. It's so hard to cut out those tiny words! This will be so much better.

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  37. your artwork is simply gorgeous. Just beautiful!

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  38. Best tape to use is invisible tape because its matte.

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  39. Best tape to use is invisible tape because its matte.

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  40. These tips and tricks are such a great idea! I believe many crafters can be quite "crafty", so these tutorials will come in handy for upcoming projects. Thanks for posting!

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  41. very cool idea and one worth remembering thank you

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  42. OMG! This is a "why didn't I think of that" idea. So cool! I will be using this again and again. I don't find that washi tape sticks and I have a bunch of it. This will work much better, thank you, thank you, thank you!

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  43. Thank you so much for this amazing technique. I've seen hundreds of blogs over these years and today i found yours and i cant tell you how beautiful this blog is. i am so happy that i came across something as good as this.

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  44. Thank you for sharing! What great ideas! I'm going to check out the rest of your blog....

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  45. This is awesome ideas to make a diy "washi tape". Thanks for sharing. :)

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Birgit Kerr