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!