Many different tapes, many applications. Here’s a guide to help you when comparing tapes and adhesives for photo framing.
Adhesive Transfer Tapes
Adhesive transfer tapes are utilized mostly for sticking double mats together, attaching dust covers, gluing spacers and fillets in place, and mounting art work to a support board. They are defined by high initial tack (which indicates they grab quickly) and a secure, lasting bond. They are used by pushing the tape strongly against 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 other side of the adhesive is exposed, so that a second product (be it a mat blank or dust cover) can be pushed against it and stick. Due to the fact that both sides of the adhesive are in play these tapes are often referred to as “double sided adhesive transfer tapes.”
ATG Tape
A kind of adhesive transfer tape mounting atg tape where the adhesive is “reverse injury” meaning the adhesive is wound on the outside of the roll, making it cumbersome to deal with manually but ideal for usage 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. represents adhesive transfer gun. To operate the ATG gun you squeeze the trigger, launching the roller and after that press the nose against 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 easy. Read more
Handheld Adhesive Transfer Tape
This tape is for those who choose to deal with adhesive transfer tape manually. With this tape, the adhesive is “interior injury” which indicates the adhesive is relied on the inside as it comes off the roll, making it less of a hassle to deal with. Yet, for long term economy there is no real benefit to purchasing handheld adhesive transfer tape except to avoid the one time expense of purchasing a tape applicator gun, since ATG tape in fact costs a couple of cents less per backyard than handheld adhesive transfer tape. Read more
Acid Free ATG Tape
Acid free ATG tape provides an adhesive that contains no damaging acids. Acid is the bane of art work. Given sufficient time, in direct sunshine and high humidity, it can trigger a hazy brown effect called “acid burn” that can cheapen and destroy art work. However keep in mind, adhesive transfer tape is hardly ever utilized to mount art work to a support board since it develops a permanent bond by sticking the art work permanently to the support so that it can not be removed. The very act of taping art work permanently to something devalues it. If adhesive transfer tape is utilized for this function it must only be utilized to mount art work that is not likely to increase in value, such as posters or quickly reproduceable photographic prints. Moreover, adhesive transfer tape can only be used in long strips, which indicates the bond will not be consistent across the back of the product to be mounted.
For permanent mounting it’s preferable to coat the product with adhesive, producing a consistent bond to avoid air pockets and creases. This is much better finished with self-adhesive foam board or PMA. So adhesive transfer tape is hardly ever utilized for mounting art work, which can only result in the conclusion that it hardly ever contacts the art work, and given that the danger from acid burn takes place when the adhesive touches with the art work, the requirement for an ATG tape that is acid free is rather doubtful. Still, if you wish to produce a frame package that is totally acid free, acid free ATG tape is the response. Read more
Mounting and Hinging Tapes
Mounting tapes are developed particularly for the function of mounting art work to a mat or support board. They are likewise utilized to connect the mat and the support board together along the top edge, what is called “hinging”, so that they remain lined up in the frame. Paper mounting and hinging tapes are merely those where the tape itself is made from paper, instead of, say, linen or tissue, which have distinct benefits.
Lineco Linen Hinging Tape
This tape is fit for mounting heavy watercolor paper and big posters. It is chosen for its higher tensile strength as it will resist tearing under the weight of the art work. Read more
Lineco Self-Adhesive Hinging Tissue
This tape is utilized on lightweight or clear art work, such as rice paper. Where other types of tape can be translucented the paper, mounting and hinging tissue is essentially undetectable. Read more
In application, mounting and hinging tapes are usually in contact with the art work. Because of this, to be safe, the tapes must be pH neutral or acid free, but given that all mounting and hinging tapes are, as a matter of course, pH neutral or acid free, it’s a little like looking 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 try to find in a mounting tape are ease-of-use and reversibility, and here one quality is often traded off against the other.
Framer’s Tape II
Finest when it pertains to ease-of-use, Framer’s Tape II acid free tape comes off the roll all set to stick with no irritating liner to need to peel away, but it is only reversible with heat. Reversibility is the ability to launch the adhesive bond, making it unsticky so it can be peeled away from the art work without tearing it. If you need to put the mounted art work in a heat press to reverse the bond, you can not successfully launch it unless you have a heat press. However, if the art work is fairly economical and you can not visualize the requirement to reverse the bond and you just want a fast, simple method to mount it, Framers Tape II is a excellent option. Read more
Gummed Tape
Gummed tape is just the reverse of Framers Tape II in terms of its qualities. It is not terribly simple to deal with but it reverses quickly. It’s a water activated tape which indicates it will not become sticky until you moisten it, and in this way it’s very much like a postage stamp and shares a few of the same drawbacks. A moistening bottle usually uses too much or too little wetness, so you wind up licking it for best outcomes. After you have licked mounting tape for some time, self-adhesive tapes that come off the roll all set to stick have an apparent appeal. On the other hand, gummed tapes can be released quickly with water. Simply 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 launch quickly, letting the tape lift away and leaving no adhesive residue on the art. Read more
AbacaSA Tape
This tape combines the thinness of paper tapes, so it will not 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 resembles the thin fibers on the within a banana peel and are extremely strong. Read more
For more on appropriate framing utilizing mounting tapes, and what to avoid when using them, take a look at Vadim Makarov’s short article How Not to Destroy Your Image 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 mounting of stitchery and needlework. It is applied to a mounting board and the release paper is peeled to expose the other side of the adhesive so that the needlework can be pushed against the adhesive and stuck down. Adhering needlework to tape is not the best method to maintain 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 gradually, it’s a much faster and easier method than stretching and pinning the needlework to the substrate. Many professional advise using needlework tape to their customers when the customers balk at the high expense of stretching and pinning, which is so time-consuming to the framer. Well over half the needlework you see mounted is mounted with needlework tape. Read 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 move from the wood into whatever the wood touches with, and given sufficient time, can trigger acid burn in that 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 therefore vulnerable to acid contamination. By utilizing Frame Sealing Tape along the rabbet, an aluminum barrier is put in place to contain acid migration and avoid the contents from falling victim to acid burn. Read 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 place the stack in the recess and press downto insert points or brads, the pressing and launching of the stack can produce a bellows effect which can suction lint and dust into the frame space. By sealing the edges of the stack with white artists tape or acid free masking tape, you avoid particles from getting in the frame space and avoid needing to get rid of the contents to choose dust and lint from the within the glass. Read more
Repairing Tissue & File Repair Work Tape
These are utilized to repair tears in art on paper. The healing tissue is applied to the face of the art, whereas the repair tape is utilized on the back. Read more
This is an overview of the offered tapes and adhesives you’ll discover at Framing4Yourself. Keep in mind, nobody does more to keep you notified and lead you to the best possible decisions by comparing products like tapes and adhesives in articles like these. At Framing4Yourself we’re your partner in framing.