A lot of different tapes, numerous applications. Here’s a guide to help you when comparing tapes and adhesives for image framing.
Adhesive Transfer Tapes
Adhesive transfer tapes are used primarily for sticking double mats together, attaching dust covers, gluing spacers and fillets in place, and installing artwork to a support board. They are identified by high preliminary tack (which means they grab quickly) and a safe and secure, lasting bond. They are used by pushing the tape strongly versus the surface and after that peeling 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 second product (be it a mat blank or dust cover) can be pushed versus it and stick. Since both sides of the adhesive are in play these tapes are typically referred to as “double sided adhesive transfer tapes.”
ATG Tape
A type of adhesive transfer tape adhesive transfer tape where the adhesive is “reverse injury” indicating the adhesive is wound on the outside of the roll, making it cumbersome to work with manually but ideal for use in an adhesive transfer gun where the tape is threaded around the roller at the nose of the gun adhesive side out. The acronym A.T.G. means adhesive transfer gun. To operate the ATG gun you squeeze the trigger, releasing the roller and after that press the nose versus the surface to be glued and pull back. The roller presents the double-sided adhesive, peeling up the liner as it goes, threading it back into the gun. Clean and basic. Learn more
Handheld Adhesive Transfer Tape
This tape is for those who prefer to work with adhesive transfer tape manually. With this tape, the adhesive is “interior injury” which means the adhesive is relied on the within as it comes off the roll, making it less of a hassle to handle. Yet, for long term economy there is no real benefit to buying handheld adhesive transfer tape other than to prevent the one time expense of buying a tape applicator gun, due to the fact that ATG tape actually costs a few cents less per lawn than handheld adhesive transfer tape. Learn more
Acid Free ATG Tape
Acid totally free ATG tape provides an adhesive that contains no harmful acids. Acid is the nemesis of artwork. Provided enough time, in direct sunlight and high humidity, it can cause a hazy brown result called “acid burn” that can devalue and mess up artwork. But keep in mind, adhesive transfer tape is rarely used to mount artwork to a support board due to the fact that it develops a long-term bond by sticking the artwork completely to the support so that it can not be eliminated. The very act of taping artwork completely to something devalues it. If adhesive transfer tape is used for this function it ought to only be used to mount artwork that is not likely to increase in worth, such as posters or quickly reproduceable photographic prints. Additionally, adhesive transfer tape can only be used in long strips, which means the bond will not be uniform across the back of the product to be mounted.
For long-term installing it’s more suitable to coat the product with adhesive, creating a uniform bond to prevent air pockets and creases. This is better made with self-adhesive foam board or PMA. So adhesive transfer tape is rarely used for installing artwork, which can only lead to the conclusion that it rarely contacts the artwork, and given that the threat from acid burn occurs when the adhesive touches with the artwork, the requirement for an ATG tape that is acid totally free is somewhat questionable. Still, if you wish to produce a frame bundle that is completely acid totally free, acid totally free ATG tape is the response. Learn more
Installing and Hinging Tapes
Installing tapes are developed particularly for the function of installing artwork to a mat or support board. They are also used to connect the mat and the support board together along the leading edge, what is called “hinging”, so that they remain aligned in the frame. Paper installing and hinging tapes are simply those where the tape itself is made of paper, as opposed to, say, linen or tissue, which have distinct benefits.
Lineco Linen Hinging Tape
This tape is fit for installing heavy watercolor paper and large posters. It is chosen for its greater tensile strength as it will resist tearing under the weight of the artwork. Learn more
Lineco Self-Adhesive Hinging Tissue
This tape is utilized on lightweight or clear artwork, such as rice paper. Where other types of tape can be translucented the paper, installing and hinging tissue is essentially undetectable. Learn more
In application, installing and hinging tapes are usually in contact with the artwork. Because of this, to be safe, the tapes must be pH neutral or acid totally free, but given that all installing and hinging tapes are, as a matter of course, pH neutral or acid totally free, it’s a little like searching for a car with headlights. They all have that function, so we can take that as a given and proceed. The two primary qualities to look for in a installing tape are ease-of-use and reversibility, and here one quality is typically traded off versus the other.
Framer’s Tape II
Finest when it comes to ease-of-use, Framer’s Tape II framers tape comes off the roll all set to stick with no annoying liner to need to peel away, but it is only reversible with heat. Reversibility is the capability to release the adhesive bond, making it unsticky so it can be peeled away from the artwork without tearing it. If you need to put the mounted artwork in a heat press to reverse the bond, you can not effectively release it unless you have a heat press. Nevertheless, if the artwork is fairly low-cost and you can not predict the requirement to reverse the bond and you simply want a quick, simple way to mount it, Framers Tape II is a excellent choice. Learn more
Gummed Tape
Gummed tape is simply the opposite of Framers Tape II in terms of its qualities. It is not terribly simple to work with but it reverses quickly. It’s a water triggered tape which means it won’t become sticky up until you dampen it, and in this way it’s quite like a postage stamp and shares a few of the same disadvantages. A moistening bottle usually applies too much or insufficient wetness, so you wind up licking it for best results. After you have actually licked installing tape for awhile, 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 quickly 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 quickly, letting the tape lift away and leaving no adhesive residue on the art. Learn more
AbacaSA Tape
This tape integrates the thinness of paper tapes, so it won’t deboss through lightweight 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. Learn more
For more on appropriate framing using installing tapes, and what to prevent when using them, take a look at Vadim Makarov’s article How Not to Ruin Your Photo By Improper Framing.
Other Tapes
Acid Free Stitchery Tape
This is a double sided tape with a release paper liner for the quick and simple installing of stitchery and needlework. It is applied to a installing board and the release paper is removed to expose the opposite of the adhesive so that the needlework can be pushed versus the adhesive and stuck down. Sticking needlework to tape is not the best way to preserve it over the long term given that needlework gain from air circulation through its fibers, but for needlework that is not likely to increase in worth gradually, it’s a much faster and easier approach than stretching and pinning the needlework to the substrate. Many expert suggest the use of needlework tape to their customers when the customers balk at the high expense of stretching and pinning, which is so time-consuming to the . Well over half the needlework you see mounted is mounted with needlework tape. Learn more
Self-Adhesive Frame Sealing Tape
This is an aluminum backed tape used lineco tape to seal the within a wood frame’s rabbet to prevent acid migration. Acid can migrate from the wood into whatever the wood touches with, and given enough time, can cause acid burn because product. The stack of matboard, foamboard and glass that you place 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 utilizing Frame Sealing Tape along the rabbet, an aluminum barrier is put in place to include acid migration and avoid the contents from coming down with acid burn. Learn more
White Artist’s Tape & Acid Free Masking Tape
These are best used to seal the edges of the stack of matboard, foamboard and glass prior to putting them in the frame recess. When you place the stack in the recess and press downto insert points or brads, the pressing and releasing of the stack can produce a bellows result 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 avoid particles from entering the frame space and prevent needing to remove the contents to pick out dust and lint from the within the glass. Learn more
Fixing Tissue & Document Repair Work Tape
These are used to fix tears in art on paper. The healing tissue is applied to the face of the art, whereas the repair tape is used on the back. Learn more
This is an summary of the readily available tapes and adhesives you’ll find at Framing4Yourself. Remember, no one does more to keep you notified and lead you to the best possible decisions by comparing items like tapes and adhesives in short articles like these. At Framing4Yourself we’re your partner in framing.