Deli Paper + Ink + Tape = Awesome

I spent last evening making "homemade washi tape" to do some exterior binding on a folder-book project and now I have a pretty stack!

Back in April I hosted some of my delightful artist friends in Charleston for a week of straight up making, fun, and food.  Bette taught us all this project, so I'm going to share...

Supplies:
Deli papers inked up with Dylusions spray
Two-sided tape--I used 2" Scor Tape for this version

Tools:
Scissors or ruler

When Carol, Bette & Denise were here, we had an absolute BLAST spraying dyes and making all kinds of deli paper prints.  Stencils and organics--leaves, to be specific--were the tools of choice.  I can do another post about doing those prints.  I ended up with a massive stack of brightly colored deli papers that needed a purpose.

Enter the two-sided tape:

This is Scor Tape, that I got from my friend, Cindy at Broken Crown Paper Arts.  It's a 2-inch version, which I like because I wanted a wider format.  I've also used 3/4-inch Art Alternatives Transfer Tape that I got from my favorite downtown store, Artist and Craftsman Supply.

Since I liked the whole design on this piece of paper, I covered the whole back with tape.

You can see the bright colors of the ink with the white tape liner behind it.  It will have a more transparent look when I use it later.  The back of the sheet is covered with strips of tape at this point.

And now they're cut apart with some super-sharp scissors.  I've also gone for a more organic, rustic look, before by tearing along the edge of the tape using a straight-edged ruler.

After all the strips are cut, I have these beautiful pieces of tape ready to apply to just about anything.  Last night's target for these babies is some of my daddy's old folders...which I'll get to in a minute.

Here's another piece in progress, with the organic leaf prints.  Man, Bette is a flipping genius!!  Even more importantly, today is her birthday!!  Makes me wish I lived closer to Maryland, but I know she'll come visit again soon since we both have more art to make.  :)

I took those two-inch strips and used them to line simple folders.  My dad gave me a massive stack of manila folders (which we used to think we're VANILLA folders when we were little, right?) from his life as a lawyer and a Latin teacher.  I intend to eventually bind all these folders together to form journals...and here's a stack of them, some printed and painted, some with just my dad's handwriting.  Doesn't that tape make a perfect signature??