I was so wrong about using washi tape for real wall art

I always thought washi tape was just for bullet journals and stuff, not actual walls. But last month I tried making a geometric pattern on my big empty living room wall in Austin using just a $3 roll of tape and a ruler. It actually looked amazing for like a week and then started peeling at the edges though lol. The trick was my friend told me to hit the edges with a tiny bit of hairspray to seal it down, and now it's held for 3 weeks straight. Has anyone else had luck keeping washi tape up long term or is this a losing battle?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_wilson7926d ago

That hairspray trick is actually a bad idea in the long run... the alcohol in it dries out the adhesive and makes it brittle after a few weeks. I tried it on a small piece in my bathroom just for fun and it held for about a month before the tape got all crinkly and started lifting in the middle too. The real trick is using a hairdryer on low heat to warm up the adhesive when you first put it on, then pressing it down with a clean cloth. For a bigger piece like your geometric pattern, you might want to just reapply a fresh strip every couple months instead of trying to seal it down with hairspray.

webb.jordan26d ago

Yeah, you mentioning the alcohol drying it out reminds me of something a buddy of mine did. He used hairspray on some vinyl decals he put on his truck, thought he was being clever. At first it looked great, like a pro job. Then like three months later, the edges were all curling up and it looked terrible. He ended up having to peel the whole thing off and it was this sticky mess underneath that took forever to clean. I think he finally just gave up and bought new ones. So yeah, I'd skip the hairspray altogether and go with your hairdryer idea.