A lot of various tapes, a lot of applications. Here’s a guide to help you when comparing tapes and adhesives for photo framing.
Adhesive Transfer Tapes
Adhesive transfer tapes are utilized mainly for sticking double mats together, connecting dust covers, gluing spacers and fillets in place, and mounting art work to a backing board. They are characterized by high initial tack (which implies they get rapidly) and a secure, long-lasting bond. They are used by pushing the tape firmly versus the surface area and after that peeling off the strip of release paper, called the “liner”, that backs the adhesive. When the liner is peeled away, the opposite of the adhesive is exposed, so that a 2nd product (be it a mat blank or dust cover) can be pressed versus it and stick. Because both sides of the adhesive remain in play these tapes are typically described as “double sided adhesive transfer tapes.”
ATG Tape
A kind of adhesive transfer tape atg tape where the adhesive is “reverse wound” indicating the adhesive is wound on the outside of the roll, making it cumbersome to deal with by hand but perfect for use in an adhesive transfer weapon where the tape is threaded around the roller at the nose of the weapon adhesive side out. The acronym A.T.G. represents adhesive transfer weapon. To operate the ATG weapon you squeeze the trigger, releasing the roller and after that push the nose versus the surface area to be glued and draw back. The roller presents the double-sided adhesive, peeling up the liner as it goes, threading it back into the weapon. Clean and simple. Find out more
Handheld Adhesive Transfer Tape
This tape is for those who prefer to deal with adhesive transfer tape by hand. With this tape, the adhesive is “interior wound” which implies the adhesive is relied on the within as it comes off the roll, making it less of a inconvenience to deal with. Yet, for long term economy there is no genuine benefit to buying portable adhesive transfer tape other than to prevent the one time expense of buying a tape applicator weapon, since ATG tape really costs a few cents less per lawn than portable adhesive transfer tape. Find out more
Acid Free ATG Tape
Acid totally free ATG tape uses an adhesive which contains no damaging acids. Acid is the nemesis of art work. Offered sufficient time, in direct sunlight and high humidity, it can trigger a hazy brown impact called “acid burn” that can devalue and destroy art work. However remember, adhesive transfer tape is rarely utilized to install art work to a backing board since it develops a irreversible bond by sticking the art work permanently to the backing so that it can not be gotten rid of. The very act of taping art work permanently to something cheapens it. If adhesive transfer tape is utilized for this function it ought to just be utilized to install art work that is not likely to increase in value, such as posters or easily reproduceable photographic prints. Moreover, adhesive transfer tape can just be used in long strips, which implies the bond will not be uniform across the back of the product to be installed.
For irreversible mounting it’s preferable to coat the product with adhesive, creating a uniform bond to prevent air pockets and creases. This is better finished with self-adhesive foam board or PMA. So adhesive transfer tape is rarely utilized for mounting art work, which can just cause the conclusion that it rarely contacts the art work, and given that the risk from acid burn occurs when the adhesive is in contact with the art work, the requirement for an ATG tape that is acid totally free is somewhat doubtful. Still, if you want to develop a frame plan that is entirely acid totally free, acid totally free ATG tape is the response. Find out more
Installing and Hinging Tapes
Installing tapes are designed particularly for the function of mounting art work to a mat or backing board. They are likewise utilized to connect the mat and the backing board together along the leading edge, what is called “hinging”, so that they remain aligned in the frame. Paper mounting and hinging tapes are just those where the tape itself is made from paper, as opposed to, say, linen or tissue, which have unique benefits.
Lineco Linen Hinging Tape
This tape is fit for mounting heavy watercolor paper and big posters. It is preferred for its higher tensile strength as it will withstand tearing under the weight of the art work. Find out more
Lineco Self-Adhesive Hinging Tissue
This tape is utilized on light-weight or translucent art work, such as rice paper. Where other kinds of tape can be translucented the paper, mounting and hinging tissue is virtually unnoticeable. Find out more
In application, mounting and hinging tapes are typically in contact with the art work. Because of this, to be safe, the tapes should be pH neutral or acid totally free, but given that all mounting and hinging tapes are, as a matter of course, pH neutral or acid totally free, it’s a little like searching for a cars and truck with headlights. They all have that function, so we can take that as a offered and proceed. The two main qualities to try to find in a mounting tape are ease-of-use and reversibility, and here one quality is typically compromised versus the other.
‘s Tape II
Best when it pertains to ease-of-use, ‘s Tape II acid free tape comes off the roll all set to stick with no irritating liner to have to peel away, but it is just reversible with heat. Reversibility is the ability to release the adhesive bond, making it unsticky so it can be peeled away from the art work without tearing it. If you have to put the installed art work in a heat press to reverse the bond, you can not efficiently release it unless you have a heat press. Nevertheless, if the art work is fairly low-cost and you can not foresee the requirement to reverse the bond and you just desire a quick, easy way to install it, Framers Tape II is a excellent option. Find out more
Gummed Tape
Gummed tape is just the opposite of Framers Tape II in regards to its qualities. It is not terribly easy to deal with but it reverses easily. It’s a water activated tape which implies it won’t become sticky till you dampen it, and in this way it’s quite like a postage stamp and shares some of the very same downsides. A dampening bottle typically applies excessive or insufficient wetness, so you wind up licking it for finest results. After you have licked mounting tape for some time, self-adhesive tapes that come off the roll all set to stick have an obvious appeal. On the other hand, gummed tapes can be released easily with water. Just take the head of a Q-Tip, dip it in water, then work the head of the Q-Tip in under the tape and the adhesive will release easily, letting the tape raise away and leaving no adhesive residue on the art. Find out more
AbacaSA Tape
This tape combines the thinness of paper tapes, so it won’t deboss through light-weight paper, and the strength of linen tape. It’s a self-adhesive tape made from the fibers of the Abaca plant which is similar to the thin fibers on the within a banana peel and are extraordinarily strong. Find out more
For more on proper framing utilizing mounting tapes, and what to prevent when applying them, check out Vadim Makarov’s post How Not to Ruin Your Picture By Improper Framing.
Other Tapes
Acid Free Stitchery Tape
This is a double sided tape with a release paper liner for the quick and easy mounting of stitchery and needlework. It is applied to a mounting board and the release paper is peeled to expose the opposite of the adhesive so that the needlework can be pressed versus the adhesive and stuck down. Adhering needlework to tape is not the very best way to protect it over the long term given that needlework benefits from air circulation through its fibers, but for needlework that is not likely to increase in value with time, it’s a much faster and much easier approach than extending and pinning the needlework to the substrate. Lots of professional advise using needlework tape to their customers when the customers balk at the high expense of extending and pinning, which is so time-consuming to the . Well over half the needlework you see installed is installed with needlework tape. Find out more
Self-Adhesive Frame Sealing Tape
This is an aluminum backed tape utilized frame sealing tape to seal the within a wood frame’s rabbet to prevent acid migration. Acid can migrate from the wood into whatever the wood is in contact with, and offered sufficient time, can trigger acid burn in that material. The stack of matboard, foamboard and glass that you position in the recess (the “rabbet”) at the back of the wood frame, contacts the wood along the edges and is for that reason vulnerable to acid contamination. By using Frame Sealing Tape along the rabbet, an aluminum barrier is put in place to include acid migration and prevent the contents from coming down with acid burn. Find out more
White Artist’s Tape & Acid Free Masking Tape
These are best utilized to seal the edges of the stack of matboard, foamboard and glass prior to placing them in the frame recess. When you position the stack in the recess and press downto insert points or brads, the pressing and releasing of the stack can develop a bellows impact which can suction lint and dust into the frame space. By sealing the edges of the stack with white artists tape or acid totally free masking tape, you prevent particles from getting in the frame space and prevent having to eliminate the contents to pick out dust and lint from the within the glass. Find out more
Healing Tissue & Document Repair Tape
These are utilized to fix tears in art on paper. The repairing tissue is applied to the face of the art, whereas the repair work tape is utilized on the back. Find out more
This is an summary of the readily available tapes and adhesives you’ll find at Framing4Yourself. Keep in mind, nobody does more to keep you notified and lead you to the very best possible decisions by comparing products like tapes and adhesives in articles like these. At Framing4Yourself we’re your partner in framing.