Valentine's Day is generally a day filled with thoughts and sentiments of love and affection. But it is also a day filled with arts and crafts. Recently on one of the doll groups I frequent the topic of faerie housing came up. One of the houses shared was a stump house project that looked like a terrific house to create for tinier dolls. As I looked at the project and how the person created their own version, my mind began crawling through alternative decorative materials for the house. One of the alternatives I considered for decorating a stump house was washi tape. Now if you haven't been made aware of washi tape before today, you are missing out on a fun crafting stash! Washi paper, using the purely Japanese definition, is (from the wiki): "Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumatashrub (Edgeworthia chrysantha), or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat." The washi tape is made from adding an adhesive similar to masking tape adhesives in that it can be adjusted, moved and removed after application. The best definition for washi tape came from Omyage Blogs and best describes what the product is. Another great resource for washi tape and what it is as well as a sales portal is located at Wishy Washi Tapes. But of course there are a lot of other sales portals through Etsy, Ebay and many crafting and arts supply shops. The availability of washi tape has grown over the years since it was first introduced and created in 2006. | Here in the US the definition for washi tape is a bit broader as most people here associate it with just decorative fabric tapes or decorative paper tapes but me, I'm a purist. I love the Japanese style of washi tapes. There is just something special about the transparent quality of a Japanese style washi tape. I have used it for so many different arts and crafts that it has become an indispensable part of my arts and crafts supply stash. Truly I love the stuff and find it hard to pass up any pretty version of it in the craft stores. My pocket book groans each time I see a bunch of new colors and styles that I do not have but that have caught my eye. So although it is probably a bit late to include washi tapes in your Valentine's crafting this year be sure to pick some up for the next major holiday or if you are really adventurous just pick some up to play with just for fun. You won't regret it and you may find an addition of a new addiction in your life. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you pick up some pretty washi tape to celebrate! P.S. Apologies that this blog post was not more Valentine specific this year. Hopefully I can make up for it in the future! |