Tag: Tape is Evil

Tape is Evil

No. Just say no to magnetic duct tape. No no no.

bethhellerconservation

The text actually tells people to stick it on their photographs. Just imagine the magnet shaped dents when they are all stuck together at the bottom of a shoebox 50 years from now.  I don’t even want to talk about the adhesive.

Shudder.

I thought we were making progress.  I thought the message was out and that the evils of tape were fully known.

I feel vanquished.  I need my tape avenger cape.

Tape is Evil

Tape is Evil

bethhellerconservation

All paper conservators know the agony and the ecstasy tape brings to our lives: the joy of warming our hands with a blow dryer while joyfully peeling still-sticky polyester tape off of a smooth-fibered paper…and the wretchedness of cross-linked, stubborn, horrible, awful, no-good masking tape that refuses to let go of the brittle, brown paper held in it’s clutches. Hours of swearing, hours of hunched scraping, and in the end, we hope, a bit of paper that might live a little longer, be a little prettier

And am I the only one who, every time, is sent back to pleasurable childhood memories of peeling things off of other things? It’s a kind of disgusting version of Proust’s madeline, isn’t it, to remember the deep satisfaction of peeling off intact inches of dead skin after a sunburn – the bigger the surface area that came off whole, the better. I remember practicing with Elmer’s glue – covering my palm with it, letting it dry, and trying to peel it off whole. I think of these things every time I sit in the zen-zone, peeling tape off of someone’s beloved letter or book or watercolor.

So, I’ve created some stuff you can buy to celebrate the struggle. Check it out at http://www.cafepress.com/tapeisevil

Enjoy!