{"id":8138,"date":"2014-06-06T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=8138"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:04:16","slug":"conservation-conversations-removing-tape-with-an-air-pencil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/06\/conservation-conversations-removing-tape-with-an-air-pencil\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Removing Tape with an Air Pencil"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you that don\u2019t know, tape is bad for paper and books! Tape eventually stains paper it comes in contact with (the length of time it takes to do this depends on the type of tape and environmental conditions), and the vast majority of the time this staining is non-reversible. Removing the tape itself is a high-risk activity, as there\u2019s a chance that the top layer of paper can peel away, or fragile paper can tear during the process. If you want to keep anything for the long term, it\u2019s just safer to keep the tape far, far away from it!<\/p>\n

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Tape didn’t help this marriage certificate!<\/p><\/div>\n

There are lots of different ways to remove tape \u2013 some tape is so old and desiccated it almost falls off by itself, some types of tape easily come off in a water bath or with a poultice, and sometimes heat or solvents have to be used.\u00a0\u00a0 In our studio we try to avoid strong solvents as much as possible just for our own health, so our usual tape removal techniques involve heat.<\/p>\n

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Don’t fix your books with electrical tape!<\/p><\/div>\n

My go-to method has always been warming the tape up with a tacking iron to reactivate the adhesive and then picking at it with a microspatula or scalpel. After the carrier (the plastic or paper part of the tape that the adhesive is attached to) is removed, the sticky residue that remains can be picked up with a crepe eraser. Sometimes this method works great, but sometimes that tape just does not want to move! In those cases I get out the air pencil.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

The air pencil is something I had never seen before starting my job here. It is a soldering tool that generates a hot, concentrated stream of air. While it\u2019s made to melt wires together, we use it to heat up tape.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good alternative to the tacking iron because you\u2019re never applying pressure directly to the tape, which can make the tape just adhere more securely to the paper rather than helping to lift it. The air pencil reactivates the adhesive without actually touching the tape itself, making it much easier to slide a scalpel under the carrier!<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Be aware that the air pencil can get really hot \u2013 remember that it\u2019s made to melt wires! It\u2019s easy to not only burn yourself but also burn the paper or even melt the tape carrier. We keep the temperature between levels 1 and 2 which seems to work on most tapes and has yet to damage any paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you that don\u2019t know, tape is bad for paper and books! Tape eventually stains paper it comes in contact with (the length of time it takes to do this depends on the type of tape and environmental conditions), and the vast majority of the time this staining is non-reversible. Removing the tape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[68,1353],"tags":[1513,1495,1884,1514],"class_list":["post-8138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookbinding","category-conservation","tag-air-pencil","tag-becky-koch","tag-conservation","tag-tape-removal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-27g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10145,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/12\/conservation-conversations-tape-tricks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":0},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Tape Tricks","author":"Jacqueline Scott","date":"November 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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. While I might be exaggerating a tiny bit, tape is most certainly very bad for paper and books and has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Courtesy Eliza Gilligan, UVA Libraries","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/IMG_2168-e1447205798598-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8891,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/04\/conservation-conversations-adhesives-in-library-and-archives-a-colloquium-review-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":1},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Adhesives in Library and Archives: A Colloquium Review (Part 2)","author":"Henry Hebert","date":"December 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The first\u00a0Biennial Conservation Colloquium was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign\u00a0in early November of this year.\u00a0Four conservators traveled to Urbana from the UK and across the country to speak about their research or practical experiences with various adhesives\u00a0in\u00a0library and archives conservation. This post is the second in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/barburnisher.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/barburnisher.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/barburnisher.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4251,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/13\/garry-noland\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":2},"title":"Artist: Garry Noland","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Equipped with tape, vinyl and contact paper artist Garry Noland creates these wonderfully colorful and textured pieces by including whatever happens to get stuck to the aforementioned materials. Noland presses tape to his studio floor picking up paint, old bits of tape and other floor debris embracing the unknown before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/artist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/theenormousradio_garrynoland.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/theenormousradio_garrynoland.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/theenormousradio_garrynoland.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8190,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/01\/artist-megan-herwig\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":3},"title":"Artist: Megan Herwig","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Megan Herwig is a graduate of the Montserrat College of Art, in addition to receiving a Master's in Fine Art from the School of the Museum Fine Arts\u00a0in Boston. I recently came upon her work on Buy Some Damn Art. Her magnificent buildings are made from various materials layered on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/artist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/MeganHerwig1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/MeganHerwig1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/MeganHerwig1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/MeganHerwig1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8076,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/16\/conservation-conversations-lascaux-498\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":4},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Lascaux 498","author":"Becky Koch","date":"May 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve worked in a lot of library conservation labs throughout my training and when I was finally looking for a \u201creal\u201d job I thought I knew more or less what kind of supplies and tools were out there. But then almost two years ago I became the book conservator at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/photo-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9956,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/17\/conservation-conversations-boxing-the-unweildy\/","url_meta":{"origin":8138,"position":5},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Boxing The Unwiedly","author":"Henry Hebert","date":"September 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Conservators working with research library collections\u00a0are often confronted with objects more difficult to store and handle than books. At times we must become a bit creative in designing and fabricating enclosures for these items, so that they can be safely stored and are easily delivered to patrons in the reading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Patent of Nobility","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Patent-of-Nobility-1024x794.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Patent-of-Nobility-1024x794.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Patent-of-Nobility-1024x794.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8138"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8153,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8138\/revisions\/8153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}