Duct tape crafts have been a very popular part of my MakerSpace. Sometimes I’ll have some high tech making planned and my tweens and teens will walk in and say nope, we want a break from that can you please bust out the duct tape. There’s just something satisfying it seems sometimes about sitting around a table, cutting up tape while you talk to your friends, and making something old school with your hands. You get that immediate sense of accomplishment, you get that social interaction, and you get that feeling that happens when you’ve made something out of nothing from your own two hands.

Here are my Top 5 Books for Working with Duct and Washi Tape

Duct Tape: 101 Adventerous Ideas for Art, Jewelry, Flowers, Wallets and More by Forest Walker Davis

This book is a little different from your traditional duct tape craft book. Although there are some instructions in here, it’s also a showcase for true art. Each project has a brief description of how the item was made, but there aren’t really step-by-step instructions. Davis creates a wide variety of types of flowers – more than I have ever seen in any other books. He also creates large 3-d sculptures, like owls, which are very popular right now. And there are a series of canvas art creations that look like true masterpieces. One of the canvas pieces is about pixilation which would be great for a Minecraft program. From Quarto Publishing Group.

I first learned about Washi Tape from TLTer Heather Booth, who used it in a program with her teens. Washi tape is slightly easier to use than duct tape because it isn’t quite as sticky. If you’ve ever worked with duct tape only to have a piece fold in onto itself and have to start all over then you understand that benefit of this.

And here are the top 5 things my Tweens and Teens like to do with Duct and Washi tape:

1. Cover notebooks, folders, pens, etc. for school

Covering things in tape is definitely the easiest way to go.

2. Canvas art

So in the picture above, we tried our hand at making our own canvas art by making a small Doctor Who inspired canvas. We used Union Jack for the background and created a Tardis out of blue duct tape. We used stickers for the lettering. Other people at the even did different types of canvas art. Overall it worked well for us and we were impressed with what we could do on our first attempt.

3. Picture frames

Again, covering things in tape is easy. And you can get really creative with your photography and make it a tech workshop.

4. Bottle cap crafts/Marble magnets/necklaces

Bottle cap crafts and marble magnets have long been a staple of my craft programming. We’ve done them at almost every program including Divergent, Doctor Who and Sherlock themed programs. And I love them even more since one day, in a moment of desperation, I tried using duct tape instead of paper. This bottom row of magnets was all made using duct tape. You simply put your bubble on a small piece of duct tape and then cut around it to get your circle. You then press it into your bottle cap and woila – quick, easy magnets. There is comic book themed duct tape which would make this a perfect craft for this year’s SRC.

The basic info for making Bottle Cap Jewelry can be found here.

And here is the basic info for making Marble Magnets.

And here are 50 things you can do with Bottle Caps.

5. Cell Phone Carrying Cases

These have been incredibly popular at my programs. And if you don’t have a phone, they also work to hang on locker walls to put pens and notes in. For cell phone cases, I use card stock paper as a base to give it a little more security because I really like my cell phone in one piece. There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube for making cell phone cases.

About Quarto Publishing Group

The Quarto Publishing Group (formerly Quayside Publishing Group) books have earned a reputation for style and quality in the fields of art, crafts, hobbies, food and drink, nature, lifestyle, reference and children’s. The children’s program just launched in 2014 with the creation of Walter Foster Jr., but expanded dramatically with the “coming home” of our Quarto UK imprints Frances Lincoln Children’s Books and QEB Publishing, now formally published through Quarto USA. In addition, a number of our general and specialty book imprints, such as Quarry Books, Motorbooks, and Race Point, publish books on history, craft, art, and other topics of interest to teen readers. Visit us know at www.quartous.com and beginning this June at www.QuartoKnows.com.

Don’t forget to go to the Quarto Publishing Giveaway post to win a copy of Duct Tape: 101 Adventerous Ideas for Art, Jewelry, Flowers, Wallets and More by Forest Walker Davis in addition to four other Quarto titles. Giveaway closes on 5/16/2015. Open to U.S. Residents.

Filed under: Duct Tape