Friday, May 4, 2012

Washi Tape: Acid Free or Not

I recently got a lot of washi tapes from ebay and another place. They are absolutely pretty and soooo cute! I love the ease of using them. Just stick them on and the layouts look so cool.

I usually test everything new which goes on my layouts. So I started using the Washi tape on my Project life pages, then I remembered I had not tested them! They did say there were acid free and meant for scrapbooking projects. I used my ph tester pen and here are the results. You can see the pen marks on the paper are blue and the pen marks on the tape is yellow. To understand that better....

American Crafters Ph Tester Pen
Criteria for Test
Yellow/Colorless =Bad
Blue/Lavendar=Good



The top ones are all from a particular brand, from Japan. The bottom ones are from Ebay, shipped from China. I no longer feel comfortable using the tapes on my layouts. I am not able to decide if it would be ok to use on my project life journaling cards. I don't know what it is going to do to my pages. I am pretty upset because the tapes are so pretty!! The manufacturer claims they are acid free, but I don't think they are. The test results prove that! I got the pen from Amazon. 

I don't think all crafters think on the same lines. Some don't care, Some do. I do want my scrapbook pages to last. I don't want to see them in a bad shape after 5 years. I have heard of pages getting ruined in a matter of 5-6 years because of using non-acid free stuff causing bleeding on pages, yellowing , fading etc...

I am not happy about the result. I loved the look just like the rest of the crafting community. I might just use it on cards for now...till I hear more from the manufacturer. This is just my personal opinion on these tapes. 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I do project life too, and just got some washi tapes and some fabric tapes thast are beautiful. Are you saying even taped on just paper, these can ruin/go bad? I wouldnt put them on pictures...just my journaling cards.

Nirupama said...

Disturbing stuff. I guess I will still use it in PL pockets, but maybe not on layouts? I don't know...if I use memoribilia that stuff isn't acid-free either? I'm not sure, but this is disappointing to be sure.

Pam Pritzl said...

you can buy some spray called "make it acid free" ... that's what I use on any ticket stubs, pamphlets, flyers, etc that I put on my layouts ... seems to work ... but I'm definitely going to buy an acid tester pen, just to be sure!

Niki Estes said...

Thanks for sharing this! I'm the same way as you. I try to use acid free products in my scrapbooks. I love the washi look, but I don't know if I really want to use it. Have you ever found any that is acid free?

Bayleaf Buttons said...

That is the problem with the 'washi' tapes coming out of China, they are not acid free.
It is recommended to buy the mt Washi Tape brand as they are actual Washi Tapes and acid/lignin-free.

We've got a small selection of the mt tape brand on sale at our shop.

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