Melanie asked me what I did with my rolls and rolls of washi tape, and I thought about writing a goofy post in response because the real answer is kind of boring.
Maybe, I thought to myself, a person could use washi tape in lieu of waxing strips. Nobody's getting her brows done these days; desperate times, desperate measures, etc. (Today was the day of the pandemic on which I cut my husband's hair. It went much better than the last time I cut his hair, which was a sad day in 1999.) Or hey -- maybe a person could create cosmetic effects with washi tape. Instead of ripping the hair from her upper lip, maybe she could just make a nice washi tape mustache. She could even use some rainbow mustache washi tape to create a mustache-mustache. I wonder if there is a market for washi tape adorned with pictures of people who have given themselves washi tape mustaches? If you gave yourself a mustache with some of that tape it would be like those three-way dressing room mirrors -- mustache echoes in every direction.
Have you ever had one of those bras where the straps keep sliding down your shoulders? A person could make a sort of washi tape bra strap sling and tape them to her neck. (She could also buy better-fitting bras, but that option doesn't require any washi tape.)
The trouble with using washi tape in lieu of an actual adhesive is that washi tape isn't very sticky. It adheres nicely to paper, but you can almost always peel it right back up again. Miriel lets her kids apply washi tape to the walls, which is an idea I would totally steal if I had small children.
The actual (boring) answer to Melanie's question is that I stick my washi tape to paper. I use my bullet journal almost daily and I almost always bedeck its pages with some washi tape. It is a pleasing morning ritual, one that helps me keep track of things. Hardcore bullet journalers say that you must maintain your index, so you have a record of which pages are where. But maintaining an index is very boring and I am not consistent about it. However! If I give each page a different appearance, it's a visual cue that helps me remember where I wrote that note to myself about whatever topic. My January-February workout schedule was framed in sunshiny yellow-flowered washi tape, so I could find it easily across the four weeks it covered. My spring semester research goals (mostly scuppered now, alas) have a stripe of peacock-feather washi tape at the left edge of the page. If I am feeling glum about all the grading I have to do, I will enclose the list of grading tasks in a frame made of happy echidna washi tape, and feel a little less glum. If I have a to-do list that I really have to coax myself to complete, I will sometimes even affix a small and pleasant square of washi tape next to each finished task. I mean, sure, I could just make a checkmark, but wouldn't you rather have a tiny cheerful picture of a colorful summer beverage?
Today's page is pretty typical: vaguely floral borders that echo the colors of the hyacinths currently blooming in my neighborhood, with a thin stripe in a harmonious color to divide work from play.
I also have a journal-journal that often gets a little decorative washi tape action, just a quick stripe under the date. I have a journaling Bible with space for notes in the margin, and I sometimes set my notes off with washi tape. (That idea came from a student who noticed the basket of washi tape on my desk during office hours. "I love washi tape!" she said. "I use it in my Bible!")
Some washi tape is for sharing. I let Stella choose her own stash, which she uses occasionally to gussy up crafts and mark her notebooks as her own. In one of my packages of washi tape there were a couple of rolls that were too girly for Stella (she feels we should all just say no to rainbow unicorns), so I took it to work and asked a colleague with many daughters if it might find a home in their craft supplies.
Huh, did I really just write almost 750 MORE words about washi tape? I appear to have done so.
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