your stencil with a craft knife, making sure you cut through the fibers in the tape so that it peels off the cutting board perfectly when you are finished.
And last, don’t throw out your cut-offs! Save these little scraps of tape from the garbage and use them to add tassels, fringe, hair or other decorations and details to your projects. You’ll never know when they’ll come in handy.
What are you waiting for? Reach for the roll and start taping!
How to Make Duct Tape Sheets
The basic building block of many of a duct tape project, these sheets are built up from strips of folded, overlapping tape. It’s a good idea to make your strips of tape longer than the width you need (by at least 1"), and trim your sheet down to size afterwards. This will give you clean edges and square right angles. You also won’t have to measure each piece of tape — just measure the first piece and use that as your guide for the rest. You may want to seal cut edges of the sheet with a folded over piece of tape to get a finished, non-sticky edge.
8
A
1 On a cutting board, cut a piece of duct tape to the width you need and place it sticky side up (A).
Cut a second piece of tape (B) the same length as
B
2 the first and place it sticky side down, halfway down piece A.
Fold the sticky half of piece A down on the non-sticky 3 side of piece B. This is your first sealed edge.
A
B
Flip the pieces of tape over and
4place a third piece of tape (C)
over the sticky part of piece B.
C
After adding your last piece of tape, fold
6over the last exposed sticky side to seal
the final edge.
Flip again and repeat as necessary
5 for the length of sheet you need.
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How to Make Duct Tape Straps
Straps are used for belts, loops, handles and other means of securing your projects.
Whether it’s for a knapsack, lunch bag or bike pannier, straps can be made thicker for greater rigidity. Depending on the strength required, you may need to use snaps or Velcro to fasten your straps.
A
1 Take a piece of duct tape the length you
need and fold it in half horizontally. This
will give you about a 1" strap. If you need a
1"
wider strap, fold the top and bottom edges
of the tape in towards the center, leaving an
exposed sticky strip in the middle of the tape.
Alternate method for wider strap widths
This is piece A.
Take a second piece of tape (B) the same length
2
A
B
as the first and place it sticky side up. Place piece A in the center of piece B. If you made your strap
wider than 1" and have an exposed sticky strip across the middle of piece A, place the sticky side down on piece B.
Fold the sticky edges of piece B over piece A.
3
You should now have one clean, smooth side
4on your strap, which will be the front face.
Attach snaps or Velcro if needed, following
5 the directions provided with them.
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Taping Flat Surfaces
Taping flat surfaces will be a common step in many duct tape projects. This method is also great for making large sheets. Having trouble controlling and lining up long pieces of tape for those super-sized sheets? No problem! Just tape smaller sheets of duct tape together to create a bigger one. If you accidentally cut your duct tape sheet too small, you can extend the sheet by this method too.
1 Align sheets and tape
along the seam.
Flip over and repeat for
2 the other side.
Taping Right-Angle Flat Surfaces
For sheets that meet at a right angle, it’s best to tape the seam when the two sheets are lying flat (see “Taping Flat Surfaces” above) then fold into a right angle.
If this is not possible (for example the final corner of a box), tape the inside seam first, where you won’t see the tape. With the corner secured, you can then tape the outside corner, and get a cleaner result.
1 When taping an inside right-angled seam,
make sure you push the piece of tape as
far into the corner as possible.
On an outside right-angled corner, place
2 and smooth out the piece of tape on one side of the corner first and then fold over.
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Taping Curved Edges
To tape curved edges you can use a series of different sizes and shapes of tape: rectangles, squares, triangles or diamonds. Different shapes and sizes make it easier to tape around a curve without getting ripples in the
