Homemade Washi Tape & Alice Box

Woohoo, I'm so chuffed, I won a top three spot over at Simon Says Stamp and Show for my "Hero" card :-) This week, their theme is "Tape it Up" and I thought I'd share a technique for making your own Washi tape, but first I want to show you the finished box I used the tape on:

"Alice in Wonderland Playing Cards & Dice Box"

I found this fab, plain box with a couple of packs of playing cards and five wooden dice in "The Works" for £1.99 and thought it would make a fab Christmas Present if I jazzed it up a bit (for those of you not in the UK, "The Works" is a bargain bookshop chain here that sells a few craft materials).

"Box end view"

The original box had a couple of fab playing card and dice images on the top that I didn't want to lose, so I decided not to use paint or paper to cover it. Instead, the box is coloured using Tumbled Glass Distress Stain, then the Alice images stamped in Archival ink, masking in places so that the you could read the sentiments. The edges are decorated with Gold Aquamarker. A layer of Claudine Hellmuth's Mat Multi Medium is applied with a brush and the tape stuck on, then the box set aside to dry.

To make the tape, first choose some preprinted images. I've tried using colour images printed using an inkjet printer and it didn't work, so I tend to stick to bought images. I bought a fab sheet of "Creative Scraps" from Simon Says Stamp called "Wonderland Tea" and cut a strip from the bottom.

"Strip of images"

Take some strips of clear sticky tape and cover your image. I used Scotch brand, but any good quality trape should work. You can just make out the strips of tape in the photo above if you look at the part where the camera flash is reflected! Don't overlap the strips.

Next, use a scoring tool (or something else flat and blunt like the edge of a coin) and rub it all over the tape to make sure it is well stuck to the images.

Now this is the fun bit, you'll make a mess but don't worry it will all work out OK :-) Take your taped image to the sink, run the tap luke warm on a gentle stream, hold the card side of the image underneath the water and gently rub with your finger or thumb, rubbing away the card. Keep going working on one piece of tape at a time until all the paper has been removed. You will find that the image is miraculously stuck to the tape - how cool is that?

Put the bits of tape to one side and leave to dry, sticky side up (although they won't feel sticky at this point, they will be a bit sticky again once they are dry!). Once dry, the tape is ready to use on your project. I like to glue it on using Multi Medium to make it extra secure.

"Box with tape"

The tape supplies the fun colour, and the joy of using it is that you can add images and also see all the detail coming through underneath! I love Tweedledum and Tweedledee at the top left, the Mad Hatter on the right, and all the legs on the other bits of tape, but that you can still read all the nonsense sayings underneath.

Ingredients:

plain box for decorating

preprinted images: Creative Scraps Wonderland Tea
IndigoBlu stamp sets: Alice I & Alice II

sticky tape

Distress Stain: Tumbled Glass

Archival Ink: Jet Black

Clauding Hellmuth Mat Multi Medium

Aquamarker: Gold

Entered for the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Tape it Up!
Craft Room Challenge - Childhood Memories