Sunday, July 22, 2012

Your Decorative Tape "Fix": DIY!


What?!  Two weeks since my last decorative tape post?  Surely it's time to talk about tape again!

I have written about all the different kinds of decorative tapes I have purchased, as well as how I store them, and the various ways I have discovered to create them myself:
Recently, I read an article by Carolyn Dube in the March/April 2012 Somerset Studio about painting and stamping on artist tape.  Artist tape is basically like low tack masking tape that is white.  I happened to have some in my stash, so I decided to give her technique a try.  I didn't have any acrylic inks, such as she used, so I decided to try my alcohol inks to see what would happen.

This photo shows my workspace all set up:  roll of artist tape, applicator tool, replacement felts, Adirondack alcohol inks, and tapes stretched out on wax paper:
I declared my first attempt at this approach to DIY tape a "non-success":
The ink bubbled and the colors were kind of ugly.

Then I remembered reading somewhere (I don't remember where!) that First Aid tape used for holding gauze in place makes for great DIY tape.  I had bought some a long time ago for that very purpose, but had not yet tried it.  So to the linen closet I went:
This kind of tape took the alcohol inks much more successfully:
While I liked the solid color tapes quite well, I also enjoyed the effect of droplets of alcohol inks left to spread and blend on the tape on their own:
The "wow" factor for me came when I added rubber stamp images with black Staz On ink:
I continued to experiment by coloring the tapes with acrylic paint, but the alcohol inks came out best of all.  The next time I hit JoAnn with a stack of coupons, I'll be purchasing some liquid acrylic inks to try out the method Dube shared in her Somerset Studio article.

You know you want to try this!


16 comments:

Unknown said...

Love it Andria! That multicolor tape is awesome... Now off to my first aid kit to see if I have any of that tape!

Karenann Young said...

I've tried that black Staz On ink and it dried up on me in a very short while dispite me wrapping it upside down and covering it with Saran Wrap. It also stinks to me! Trying to find a better black dye ink!

Karenann Young said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
laurie said...

absolutely! the stamping really makes the tape pop. you were very clever for trying the first aid tape - that's some out-of-the-box thinking!

donna!ee said...

this is exactly what i have been doing with the first aid tape... creating my own tape is far more useful than buying zillions and still not finding the "right" one for my project... :D

Janet said...

So cool! I love how they just came to life with the stamps. I'm going to try this.

I'm back from my long blog break and trying to catch up with everyone.

uncustomary said...

ANDRIA! These are fantastic! I love them I love them yesss.

eli said...

FIRST AID came to be true hahaha! love your new tapes!

Curious said...

Wonderful! I loved the one with the key!! *w*

aprilmariecole.blogspot.com said...

ANDRIA... THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA!!
You are sooooo darn creative!
Thank you for sharing this. ~xx

aimee said...

GAUZE! that's fantastic! i tried messing around on first aid paper tape, which is not the same thing -- it now has a shiny coating which repels color. hadn't thought about gauze. must try! thank you for sharing!

Parabolic Muse said...

Andria, I just LOVE making my own decorative tape! I didn't know there was another kind of white tape to use other than bandaging tape. You mean there's artist tape that's white and low-tack? I have quite a few alcohol inks and I'm going to try them! I love using my own stamps to decorate them afterward. I think the thing I like most is using Sharpie paint pens to color and then stamp using Stazon. Just awesome!

Must get back to this. I'm catching up with your blog and it's reminded me I haven't made my own tape in a long time!

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