Masking tape and masking paper will be your great allies in many of your scrapbooking projects. These materials are not intended to be part of the final project, but to help you use different techniques with all your materials, such as stamps, paints or punches.
Both have a low tack, so they can be easily removed from the surface of the project. Another advantage is that you can use the same piece of masking tape or paper over and over again, so you can get a lot more out of it. Let's take a look at the uses of each.
Masking tape
As we said, masking tape is a low tack adhesive tape, so it can be easily applied and removed. It has a rice paper texture so you can cut it with your fingers without using scissors.
Its main function is to temporarily hold elements in place, for example, to hold matrices in place while you feed them through the die cutter. It can also be used to hold templates or stencils in place so that they do not move while we are applying the product and we get a perfect finish.
But we can also use it to cover or hide areas of our work. If we are painting with watercolours, we can cover the edges of the paper before we start painting, and when we are finished, when we remove the tape, we are left with a perfect white border. In the same way, when we are applying paints, either with or without a stencil, we can place the tape over the areas where we do not want to apply paint. Another use is when working with stamps. If the stamp design we want to use has a word or detail that we do not want stamped, we can cover it with a piece of masking tape. We ink the stamp as normal and remove the tape. The detail that we don't want in our design will be free of ink and will not be stamped.
Masking tape is not only for scrapbooking, it will be very useful in all kinds of crafts and in many everyday tasks.
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Masking paper
Masking paper is a sheet of adhesive paper ideal for making masks or stencils. It is mainly used for working with inks and stamps.
You can simply cut it with scissors to give it the shape you want, or you can use the stamps to cut out a specific design, such as a circle, heart, letters, etc. You can use either the positive or the negative of this punch, depending on the result you want. Remove the protective paper, stick the masking paper onto your project and apply the inks, paints or stamps. When finished, remove carefully. It is also perfect for creating stamp compositions. You can make several layers of stamps without them overlapping. Simply stamp the stamp onto the masking paper and cut out the silhouette. Make a first stamp on the paper or surface of your project and cover it with the silhouette cut out of the masking paper. Now you can stamp again by 'stepping' on part of the silhouette as the masking paper protects it. When you remove the masking paper, you will see that the first stamp will be in the foreground and the following ones will be in the background.
Here is a step-by-step guide to using masking paper and some creative ideas.
Simple but essential
Masking tape and masking paper are two simple but universal products. It's always a good idea to have them on hand to help you with any kind of project. The Craftelier masking tape comes in a pack of 3 so you'll never be without it, and the masking paper comes in a pack of 10 sheets of A5 paper. Both are acid free to help preserve your work. Now that you've seen them, don't forget to add them to your basket for your next purchase!
Related products to this post
Want to unleash your creativity? Want to know which products we have mentioned in this post? Here they are:
