Have Duct Tape Crafts become popular in your neck of the woods?

When I was in high school (1994–99), making duct tape wallets was pretty popular among my guy friends. That’s about all I’ve ever seen.

It came and passed about… 5 years ago. I made quite a few wallets then.

So…is this a hobby whose time has come & gone and my daughter just happened upon it by accident via YouTube?

Or is it making a comeback?

My latest revelation is that you can take out splinters with duct tape!

I saw many patterns of duct tape at the crafts store – houndstooth, etc. Who would ever know? I am going to google it now!

@jca: Michaels, AC Moore, and Target all have a good selection near us.

My daughter has found (aside from a variety of colors) plaids, stripes, polka dots, leopard print… even Hello Kitty patterns.

@marinalife: Ouch?!

No. They’re shunned here as “redneck magnets.” The people of my industrial city have much more respect for real art and technology, preferably the kind that can lead to a sustainable new growth, factories and jobs.

@JaneraSolomon: Did I mention she’s nine?

There are some interesting duct tape projects on Instructables.com if she runs out of YouTube duct tape projects.

Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together. -Carl Zwanzig

@JaneraSolomon Uhhh, welcome to Fluther?

No , never heard about, nor have I ever seen any of the crafts, but I am not surprised .

Thanks for the welcome ;)
I’m very supportive of arts and crafts and have taught art for years, which is all the more reason why I personally would rather see young people who are interested in creating things pointed toward better quality materials. While making junk out of duct tape is a harmless diversion, it doesn’t build a child’s skills the way participation in a young inventors program or an art class at a local museum would.

@JaneraSolomon She should do the crafts she’s interested in doing. She’s having fun and being creative. Calling her crafts “junk” is unkind and uncalled for.

Well if she’s nine she’s got lots of time to prep for the holy of holies of duct tape crafts:

The duct tape prom ensemble. This contest has been around since I was in high school at least, though no one I knew had the get-up-and-go to try for it.

@JaneraSolomon: Perhaps she has the interests you mentioned. However, it’s harmless for a child to be interested in something that’s fun and that might become a bridge to something more sophisticated.

Acting pretentious on Fluther will not get you very far, sister!

@cprevite The duct tape revolution just recenly hit my neck of the woods. Last year one boy duct taped his prom shoes to get a zebra patterned shoes to go with his prom date’s zebra pattern trimmed dress.

I have a blue duct tape rose on my desk from an unknown student.

It came and it went a while ago here, but our school has a duct tape dress competition at the homecoming pep rally. Each grade makes a duct tape dress and has one person where it at the pep rally.

@cprevite here is a snapshot of the breadth and depth of duct tape artwork.

@CardAngel and @jca, way to go, alienating a new fluther for providing her perspective. Perhaps you should reference sites like this, this or this or here, here or here as your rebuttal. Duct tape is a product of the industrial age, any art instructor should visit it along with all the other industrial products used to create modern and post-modern art.

@DaphneT, Providing one’s perspective is welcome, of course. However, @JaneraSolomon immediately bashed @cprevite‘s 9 year old daughter’s choice of craft saying that it is shunned as a “redneck magnet” and “The people of my industrial city have much more respect for real art.” What is “real art” anyway? Art is what the artist creates whether someone else sees it as art or not. I don’t need to point to magnificent pieces of duct tape artwork as a defense. Who knows what @JaneraSolomon would consider art anyway.

The reality of art education in America is that it has almost disappeared, as art teachers and dedicated art rooms were cleared out with the focus on “testable” subjects. Yet Americans wonder why there aren’t more companies like Apple and Pixar around, that have proven that good art and design is both a delight, and the lifeblood of progressive companies. If a child has a real interest in arts or crafts that’s a wonderful thing, and the time is limited for them to develop that skill. This makes the quality of their time spent at home on such activities all the more important. If your child might later wish to apply to a good art school, a portfolio will be required, and if they have nothing to demonstrate their art interest other than some duct tape constructions and Lego boats, they won’t get very far. As I said earlier, I think it’s a harmless diversion, but it’s a shame to miss the opportunity to expose an interested child to more interesting methods and materials than duct tape.

<——-—got into art school with legos and duct tape

Just kidding. It was cardboard and paper mache.

Yeah, I saw the art classes starting to make some duct tape creations… They are very cool. One person made a face out of duct tape and I was all “wow that’s amazing!” so yeah.

Yes no doubt their duct tape skills will serve them well if they decide to become plumbers
http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/6/5/5/2/ar125762551625564.jpg
Or if they branch out into the packing and moving industry
http://longballbennie.com/WeekOf11_07_2005/Monday/RedneckDuctTape3-kolf.jpg
And of course Women’s fashions
http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/bh/hv/v5/pushupbra1.jpg

Because obviously no one could ever do something creative or well constructed with so humble a medium.~

@fundevogel – Yeah, right!? :)

Thanks everyone for the responses and duct tape related links. My daughter was happy to see them.

@JaneraSolomon: I appreciate your perspective. Having been an artist, graphic designer, and photographer for the past twenty-three years myself, I see your points. And, after eleven years teaching college art & design, I also see your point on art education. However, your comments A) assume that my daughter has no other artistic pursuits to foster her innate creativity, and B) are very condescending and pretty much miss the spirit of the question.

And phrases like “redneck magnet” and “real art” pretty much make me dismiss you out of hand. Which is a shame.

Various materials definitely have associations with them, and it is not incorrect to recognize the association between “redneck culture” and duct tape. That’s why searching for “duct tape” and redneck in Google turns up 3.7 million hits. This doesn’t mean that real art can’t be achieved with this or any other material, and yes I know Marcel Duchamp made art of a urinal,
http://michaelnewberry.com/av/post/Duchamp_Fountain.jpg
But still I think it would be a bad idea to give a grade school art class a pile of urinals to play with, and I doubt much meaningful art would arise from such a class.
Materials DO matter, and a generation of students are going through school now who might never have touched a pencil in 12 years of public education. The implications for arts education are frightening.

@cprevite: Obviously she just doesn’t get it.

@jca: This is true. :^(

What I DO get is that most Americans are perfectly happy throwing up their hands and saying “education doesn’t matter,” “art doesn’t matter,” as long as we’re fat and happy everything is good in the world. When their children dip their hands in their diapers and smear poop on the wall you can smile and say “my little artist,” but a generation raised with great self esteem but no skills will be poorly prepared to lead or even hold a job when the time comes.

I carry duct tape in my purse at all times, I have never created art with it, but it has saved the day for me on numerous occasions.
@cprevite can you show us some pics of your daughters work? I’d love to see it.

@JaneraSolomon welcome to Fluther. Most of us usually try to be supportive of each other even while expressing a dissenting opinion. I hope that you get the hang of our site very soon.

I’m shaking my head at how an 9 year old enjoying a fun craft becomes “education doesn’t matter,” “art doesn’t matter as long as we’re fat and happy everything is good in the world” and “being poorly prepared to hold a job when the time comes.”

@JaneraSolomon I’m a teacher, too, and have a huge soapbox when it comes to educational matters. I do understand your concerns. I also am an artist and have taught art classes—I put my daughter in art, music and singing classes to make up for what the schools are no longer providing.

I grew up with arts and crafts in Girl Scouts and my mom bought me plastic canvas crap, latch hook stuff, and by the time I was 12, I think I had experimented with every single needlework craft that’s out there along with countless other mediums. I eventually got a BA in Studio Art and my experimentations with all kinds of medium made me a better artist, art teacher, critic, and art appreciator.

I also grew up on Archie’s Comics and have no problem reading Shakespeare. There are students in my class that I give graphic novels to— I don’t consider Archie or graphic novels to be “literature,” but if it hooks their attention long enough for them to eventually get to more sophisticated stuff, then I’m all for it. The same goes for plastic canvas and duct tape. As long as the artwork shows a well executed and clean quality, what’s the problem with the medium? Isn’t this guy’s artwork true art?

Are you concerned that people will become lazy about choosing quality medium? I think it’s the role of the art teacher to teach students how to take lowly medium, of any kind, and elevate it into a quality art product. I understand your concerns about the annihilation, really, of art programs, but I don’t think the battle will be won by staying outside of trends, but to use trends to lead to traditions.

As I said, playing with duct tape is a harmless diversion, and I have no problem with that in the harmless diversion category, along with time spent reading Archie comics (as I did as well), or other such activities. The bigger disconnect here is that certain people evidently can’t stand to see answers in Fluther that don’t “go with the flow.” Everyone must say YES, THAT’S GREAT, everyone must wear Khakis, and anyone with a dissenting voice must be beaten down. That is bad for Fluther, and it’s bad for the USA. I made the point that “I personally would rather see young people who are interested in creating things pointed toward better quality materials;” I did not say they must not touch duct tape. When a child expresses an interest in arts and crafts, that’s a teachable moment, and there are precious few of those in a child’s life. Taking that opportunity to EXPOSE them to better materials doesn’t mean you take away every fun thing in their life, it means you expand their opportunities and share with them an appreciation for the differences and qualities of arts materials.

@JaneraSolomon: You seem like you’re backpedalling a bit now, but in your first and second answers you referred to the craft as “junk” and you said they’re referred to as “redneck magnets.” Then you went on to say “the people of my industrial city have much more respect for real art and technology.” In the 1970’s, Steve Martin would have responded “Well Excuuuuse ME!”

So at your last post you soften up a bit, but it seems you are not remembering that you were pretty negative at first.

Fluther is definitely not a site, as you said you think it is, where, as you put it “Everyone must say YES, THAT“S GREAT, everyone must wear khakis —(whatever that was supposed to mean)—and anyone with a dissenting vioce must be beaten down.” Fluther is definitely not that way. Fluther is definitely full of dissenting voices! If it were just a site where everyone said “Yes, that’s great,” it would not be so popular. However, referring to a 9 year old’s fun diversion as junk (along with the other negativity you posted) is really kind of harsh, you must admit.

Read my lips: DUCT TAPE is junk. That is about a material, not about what interests a 9 year old. The adhesive on DUCT TAPE dries up and loses its adhesion in about 3 months when exposed to oxygen. This makes it unsuitable for art works because they will necessarily fall apart at that point. Further it is expensive, at about 20 times the cost of cloth. While several Flutheroonies are proud to post the duct tape prom dresses they found, I say what a pity that someone put so much effort and expense into an uncomfortable non-breathing prom dress and didn’t even learn basic sewing skills as they would have if they had made it out of cloth. Backpedaling? no. I cited my own words from the beginning of this thread and still stand by them. Try reading them instead of accusing me of in some way being anti 9-year old. And FYI, “everyone in Khakis” is a reference to a “Gap” ad where they said just that and expected all of the USA to start wearing GAP Khaki pants instead of Jeans. It implies the cynicism of people who think they can tell everyone how to dress, how to think, and what to buy.

@JaneraSolomon I’m sorry you feel that way about us Flutherites, but that is not at all how our site is. Many people disagree with many opinions on this site, but they disagree in a way that doesn’t insult anyone who does have that opinion. We’re very open-minded here and support almost all opinions even if we disagree.

If you are duct tape, you might well feel insulted, If you are not duct tape, there’s not reason to feel insulted.

“No. They’re shunned here as “redneck magnets.” The people of my industrial city have much more respect for real art and technology, preferably the kind that can lead to a sustainable new growth, factories and jobs.” “Various materials definitely have associations with them, and it is not incorrect to recognize the association between “redneck culture” and duct tape.”

Hmm… sounds a bit like stereotyping to me, but you probably wouldn’t do that because you wrote this: It implies the cynicism of people who think they can tell everyone how to dress, how to think, and what to buy.” ~

Duct tape crafts are indeed shunned here. Are you a duct tape craft? If so, please stand up, most people have never seen a talking duct tape craft. And yes, I do call attention to the the cynicism of people who would those who raise red flags about use of duct tape in place of more appropriate, workable, and lasting arts materials. Let me know when you’re done taking pot shots. I would be much more impressed with you if you could actually tolerate ONE person in all of Fluther who doesn’t think that duct tape is the greatest thing since sliced bread and should be celebrated in the repertoire of every American child.

@JaneraSolomon None of us mind that you don’t think duct tape is a real medium for art, but you have possibly insulted anyone here who has stated an opinion otherwise by calling it a “redneck magnet”. Redneck is an insulting term and insulting terms are not very much appreciated here.

[mod says] Flame off, folks. Let’s take a breath, cool down and get back on track here.

Ya see @augustlan… The problem here is that this is clearly a sticky topic that’s bound to cause an issue. Now if we simply adhere to the guidelines and stick together, we’re bound to be on a roll again in no time.

I’m stuck on you people.

:: cue Huey Lewis and the News ::

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

Oh sure! My oldest daughter and her girlfriends have been making rings and bracelets and all manner of things with colorful duct tape. She came hope with a zebra-striped duct tape ring last week, lol. I think they’re cute.