12 Tacky Tape Uses

Tacky Tape Projects

            Hi friends, it feels good to be  back to  blog-land after a sabbatical . I had some health issues which are thankfully all resolved now. 

            There are so many situations in which the normal liquid white glue is pretty frustrating to use !For many of these "sticky" scenarios ,double sided adhesive tape and especially the super strong red tacky tape version of it is a fantastic alternative .

Red Tacky Tape

Features of Red Tacky tape 

1. It is a clear transparent adhesive
2. The red plastic lining is easy to peel off and reveals the clear adhesive underneath
3. Its available in different sizes - 24mm, 18mm,12mm,6mm and 4mm
4. Fast and easy to use 
5. No drying time- instant adhesive!
6. Non messy 
7. Strong adherence
8. Can be used on multiple surfaces
9. Heat resistant - yeah I used it to heat emboss too...will show you how later on in the post
10. Acid free - for creating scrapbook albums and layouts

Here are 12 different uses of Red tacky tape

1. Gluing on Wood

   

   Tacky tape on wood

           Mod Podge is a very popular glue to adhere paper to wood especially MDF.If you didnt have the patience or time to decoupage with a liquid glue or wanted to avoid the mess, then tacky tape is the answer! I altered a cute wood frame my crafty friend Rupa gave me with seed beads. It was a super simple project....adhered tacky tape on the wooden panels, peeled off the red lining to reveal the clear adhesive layer underneath and dropped seed beads on to it.

   

   Beaded frame

   The red tape could hold all the seed beads well as you can see from the photo above of the inverted frame but as I wanted a sealant too I gave a coating of Mod Podge!
   

   

   Beaded frame

   Initially I kept the frame simple with just the seed beads and a plastic heart[ also firmly stuck on the red tape and which later I had to pull off with a bit of difficulty!]

   

   Altered frame

   Later on my obsession with Sospeso Transparente got the better of me and so added a few Sospeso blooms to the beaded frame.
   
   

   

   Sospeso Transparente Beaded Photoframe

2. Gluing Foam

   

   Foam on tin

   Foam is a super slippery surface to glue and if you want to glue foam to a surface such as a metallic or plastic tin as in this Foam fairy land altered tin, double sided adhesive tape is the best adhesive!

   

   Foam Panda Penstand

   Here is how my daughter made the Panda penstand .To glue smaller foam pieces to each other or googly eyes to foam,especially when working with children, double sided foam tape and glue dots are awesome adhesives!
3. Gluing on Metal - In the above 2 projects , I used double sided tape to stick foam to a metal tin.To stick paper to metal...liquid glue does work but you need to be super patient  and it is rather messy!

   

   Textured metal tin

   I used adhesive tape to stick thick paper to the textured metal  tin shown above! Adhesive tape was also useful to stick the lace in the upper and lower borders of this altered tin

   

   Altered tin

4. Gluing on glass and ceramic - you can use red tacky tape to glue a variety of objects to glass: 
   • beads, pearls ,sequins,glitter
   • paper,wood
   • fabric – ribbon , lace
   • plastic
   • Here is a quick demo on how we altered a glass by sticking beaded, ribbon and a wooden embellishment using  red tacky tape and glue dots!
     

     

     Beaded glass tutorial 

     My daughter chose an ordinary glass and seed beads
     

     

     Beaded glass tutorial 

     She stuck red tacky tape on the top of the glass...since our glass was not a perfect cylinder there was some wrinkling of the tape but it didnt affect our final project!
     

     

     Beaded glass tutorial 

     Peeling the red liner of the tacky tape is so easy my daughter didnt need any help!

     

     Beaded glass tutorial 

     Just like in the altered beaded frame we just poured beads randomly onto the adhesive tape and pressed them in place.If your hands are dirty and you touch the tape  you can loose some of the adhesive property of the tape ! We did add a layer of Mod podge to help seal our beads firmly onto the glass! 

     

     Inking

     My daughter loves to use my inkpads and here you can see her using Ranger's Archival Ink to ink some Prima wooden hearts [gifted to her by the generous Priya Sivaraj] to add to her project.I also allowed her to experiment with Clear rock candy crackle paint to create the beautiful crackled hearts!
     

     

     Glue dots

     I am a big fan of glue dots while crafting with my daughter but it was the first time we got to use the glue dot rolls! They are even easier than the usual glue dots as the glue dots are in a roll and it was easy to stick the embellishment atop a glue dot and peel it right off to stick to a project!
     

     

     Glued dot adhered wooden heart

     My daughter stuck on the wooden heart on her glass using a glue dot! Next experiment was gluing fabric on glass!
     

     

     Beaded glass tutorial 

     If you have ever tried to glue ribbon or lace to glass...you will know how difficult it is with wet glue! It was quick and easy to use tacky tape to stick the red glitter ribbon to our glass!

     

     Beaded pen and glass

5. Gluing on Plastic - when I searched online for red tacky tape projects one of the popular crafty uses was to make beaded pens which were supposedly hot selling stuff in craft fairs.

   

   Beaded Pen

   We lined a regular plastic pen with red tacky tape and rolled it in seed beads.Maybe we touched the taped pen too many times and decreased its adhesiveness but for some reason or the other our beads kept falling off the pen and I had to salvage the project with oodles of Modpodge!

   

   Glue dots

   I stuck on a Sospeso flower on the beaded pen using a glue dot! 

   

   Sospeso flower with glue dot

   For a  glue dot to work well as an adhesive the surfaces to be glued should be perfectly flat so it wont work for irregular based flowers and for that reason not all Sospeso flowers will stick with a glue dot!



Beaded Pen

6. Gluing Fabric : Lace, Ribbons to paper, wood, glass ,plastic.So if you want to add a pretty ribbon or lace to your handmade card or box...no more struggling with liquid glue or being frustrated the glue gun gave only a temporary adhesion of the ribbon.I have already shown how we used the  red tacky tape to adhere the glittery red ribbon to our glass surface.
7. Difficult to glue papers
   
   
   • Glossy paper surface - If you want to beautify a box like the one shown below which is lined with glossy paper , it is super tricky to stick pattern paper to it using normal white glue  as its so smooth and slippery

     

     Altered box

     In such situations a double sided adhesive tape is fabulous as its non messy, gives good adhesion, is fast and does not wrinkle!
     
     

     

     Altered box

     I am currently in love with the clear rock candy crackle paint and really went to town creating a crackled surface on the pattern paper!
     

     

     Crackle paint

     Inked some parts of the beautiful DCWV Mariposa paper and applied crackle paint over it.
     

     

     Crackle paint

     The foam bow is stuck on to the paper using tacky tape !
     

     

     Altered Projects

   • Vellum / parchment - parchment is such a slippery surface to glue and in this floral card ,I embossed parchment so you can imagine it was one tricky surface to glue to my card.I used double sided tape to stick all the layers of this card!

     

     Embossed Vellum Card

   • Embossed paper - dry embossed paper is tricky to glue because of the texture on its surface and adhesive tape is my go to choice for embossed paper.See examples in the cards above and number 12.
   • Handmade Paper
   • Corrugated paper
     • Glossy Corrugated paper - sticking corrugated paper can be so tricky as such and if its glossy its even more difficult. In this DIY Picture frame tutorial I used double sided foam tape  initially

       

       Picture frame

       After some days the double sided foam tape proved inadequate and one edge lifted off.

       

       Adhesion with foam tape

       Since the painting was done by my daughter this project was so special to me. I could salvage the frame using tacky tape and its holding up very well!
8. Sticking Glitter/Sequins/Beads/Craft Sand - because it is so super sticky but non-messy as well..tacky tape is ideal to add bands of glitter , sequins, beads[ as already demonstrated],sand etc to your project quickly and effectively!
9. Kids crafts and School Projects - If you have kids you'll know many school projects are a last minute rush job and may require sticking of non paper objects and I find glue dots and adhesive tape indispensable  not only to make a project mess free but super quick too! Here is a weighing balancewe made using double sided adhesive tape to stick the paper to the plastic containers to make the scales.

   

   Weighing Balance

10. Gluing large surfaces such as in scrapbook layouts, albums,recycling crafts,boxes, cards etc with pattern paper.I dont make albums but I have seen its by far the most popular adhesive for crafters who make scrapbook album due to its strong + acid free nature!

    

    Drawer shaped Box

11. Box making - If you are altering a box or making a box from scratch, you often have to line it and in such cases red tacky tape helps give a neat finish and also makes your job quicker. In the shaped box shown I used  double sided adhesive tape to get a strong adhesion.
12. Embossing

    

    Heat Embossing

    You can actually take advantage of the heat resistant property of red tacky tape to heat emboss on your projects. The vertical golden column you see on my card was made using embossing powder and red tacky tape. You can completely skip the Versamark /other embossing ink pad!

    

    Heat Embossing

    Here is how to make a heat embossed creation: I started with a folded card and stuck red tacky tape on it.

    

    Heat Embossing

    Whenever you use tacky tape,run your finger firmly along the tape to get a strong adhesion to the base .
    

    

    Heat Embossing

    Peel off the protective red plastic lining to reveal your tacky tape adhesive and pour embossing powder on the tacky tape.To get the fine embossing in the card I have made, I used Ranger suferfine gold embossing powder.
    
    

    

    Heat Embossing

    Tap off excess embossing powder.
    

    

    Heat Embossing

    Heat with your embossing heat gun
    

    

    Heat Embossing

    Isn't the heat embossing  perfect ? I love it!!
    

    

    Heat Embossing

    As you know sticking textured embossed card/ paper is so difficult and here I used tacky tape to stick the dry embossed " Chandelier"  [embossed with a Sizzix folder] to my base card

    

    Embossed Card

    The Joy crafts die cut was also heat embossed with the same super-fine embossing powder and added to the card with 3 D foam tape for a little bit of dimension

    

    Heat embossed Die cut

    And here is a recap photo of some of my Red Tacky Tape projects made especially for this review
    

    

    Red Tacky Tape Projects

    Special Points to Keep in mind when using Red Tacky Tape

• It is a very strong adhesive so be very sure and accurate when sticking it as you cant stick it and try to remove it and stick it in another place!
• You can use normal scissors to cut it but since its a strong adhesive like foam tape...your cutting will be much easier if you use a nonstick scissors such as the Tim Holtz scissors 
• Keep the protective plastic /wax paper covering sheet it is packed with as its a super sticky tape roll and if you store it without its covering, dust and all sorts of particles can stick to it [ personal experience!]

Edited to add: How to prevent /get rid of stickiness of your scissors after cutting tacky tape/ foam tape - options

[Ideas and recommendations from crafters : Tejal Mehta Shah, Gopi Shah, Neha Bhatt, Neha Agarwal, Ankita Lunia]

1. Use an adhesive remover eraser to remove glue residue on your scissors
2. Use sandpaper
3. Use thinner[ available in paint/ hardware shops] 
4. Use Ranger alcohol blending solution
5. Use nail polish remover
6. Use vaseline or cold cream on your scissors before cutting
7. Use versamark on your scissors before cutting

Thank you so much for being with me till the end of this post. I know its a super long post but I wanted to cover as much as I could about this wonderful adhesive with so many possibilities.

Do tell me how it is.