To be honest when I heard you could make a decal out of packing tape I had my doubts. I’ve seen so many crafts online that make it seem too easy. Similar to that delicious cake you see online that looks so perfect and uncomplicated. Well, this craft, while it had a few little bumps was quite easy and very fun.
This a great craft if you want to create, say, your own label, or decorate a jar you have laying around to make into something new. The possibilities are endless. I currently have a baby shower coming up so I went with the classic Winnie the Pooh theme. I went online and found free images and saved them to a word document. I got them to about a 2”x3” size. Since you are using packing tape remember it isn’t very wide so you need to be careful how big you make the image. Here is the big bump I ran into: you must use a laser printer or a toner-based printer. An Inkjet image will not work (trust me). So after I chose my images I went to Kinkos and printed them there. Then I picked up a cute glass jar from the $1 store. Also, do not get cheap packing tape!
Okay enough babble here is what you need:
- A Burnisher
(fancy word for a popsicle stick)
- Packing Tape (Heavy Duty)
- An Image On Paper
- Glass Jar
- Hot water
(fancy word for a popsicle stick)To begin
- Cut out image and apply to packing tape. Do not worry about the white, it will be transparent. Lay image in the center of the packing tape and cut it out
- Take your burnisher (Popsicle stick!) and run all over the image corner to corner
- Fill up a bowl with hot water
- Place the image face down in the water and let it sit for a few minutes (while it is sitting, make sure your glass is clean)
- Now remove your image from the bowl. I like to keep my fingers over the bowl as I rub the paper off in case I needed more water. It comes off pretty easily. It’s okay to be a little rough; the images will not come off.
- Once the paper is removed, let it dry on a flat surface (the stickiness will come back)
- After it is dry, take an alcohol wipe and wipe the back of image to remove finger marks, dirt etc.
- Place the image on your glass and use the burnisher again to smooth out any bubbles, pushing them out the side.
There you go! Now it is your turn. 🙂