{"id":10145,"date":"2015-11-12T19:16:02","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T00:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=10145"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:17","slug":"conservation-conversations-tape-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/12\/conservation-conversations-tape-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Tape Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tape, once an innocent medium used to laminate\u00a0middle school notebooks with drawings and pictures of my favorite boy band members, has become one of the great horrors of my life.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/a>

The horror!!! Courtesy Eliza Gilligan, UVA Libraries<\/p><\/div>\n

While I might be exaggerating a tiny bit, tape is most certainly very bad for paper and books and has lead to many hours spent hunched over a bench or under a fume hood trying to get the stuff off. A convenient household repair material, it has long been misused by well-meaning folk in last ditch attempts to fix their beloved tomes. However, this seemingly convenient repair material always does more harm than good. Not only does it look horrible, often obscuring text and discoloring the object it is stuck to, if left on an object for too long it can fuse itself with the paper fibers, making removal of the adhesive and resulting stain very difficult and time-consuming.<\/p>\n

Pressure-sensitive tape ages in very distinct stages. In their 1983 article for The Book and Paper Group Annual, Merrily A. Smith, Norvell M. M. Jones, II, Susan L. Page and Marian Peck Dirda describe the aging process:<\/p>\n

Initially, there is a period of little alteration, an induction time. During the induction time, removal is relatively easy. As oxidation progresses, this stage is followed by a fairly abrupt change in adhesive consistency and color. The adhesive mass gets very sticky and oily, perhaps, in part, because of the breaking up of the rubber polymer. It also starts to yellow. Apparently during this stage various components of the adhesive soak into the paper, rendering it translucent. Some components probably remain, at least temporarily, on the surface. In this oily condition the adhesive mass can penetrate the paper entirely and move into adjacent sheets.<\/em><\/p>\n

Its components can also begin to affect certain media\u2014particularly printing, typing, and ballpoint pen inks\u2014causing them to bleed. Removal of tape during this very sticky period is usually still possible, but is more difficult.<\/em><\/p>\n

The adhesive, having permeated the paper, continues to oxidize, and gradually loses its adhesive properties. The carrier may fall off, and the adhesive residues crosslink, becoming hard, brittle, and highly discolored. Once it has reached this condition, the adhesive residue and the stain it has created are very difficult, sometimes impossible, to remove.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Tape<\/a>

Tape on vellum, the saddest of tragedies.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, what to do? There is a plethora of ways to attack tape removal. I am going to touch on a few ways to remove the carrier (the material that physically holds the adhesive, usually either cellophane or paper) and the remaining adhesive from the affected object.<\/p>\n

Carrier Removal
\n<\/strong>Naturally, the least-invasive\u00a0method of carrier removal is to mechanically chip it off with a Casselli spatula<\/a>. However, most often the adhesive is still too effective and mechanical removal will result in damaging the surface of the object. The next least-invasive method is to apply\u00a0heat, loosening the adhesive, and allowing the conservator to peel\u00a0back the carrier. There are a few ways to do this:<\/p>\n