I tape my watercolor paper down with the same four pieces of tape and I can't throw them out
Okay so the tape. Not a fresh roll, the same four strips I've been reusing since like March, stuck to the edge of my glass palette so they don't lose their tack. My partner watched me peel one off this morning, press it back down, and just said "we have a whole drawer of that." We do. I know we do.
The thing is these four strips have the exact right amount of stick left. New tape rips the paper when I lift it, old tape gives up halfway through a big wet wash and the whole sheet buckles and I have to sit there watching it curl like it's personally disappointed in me. So I keep them. They've got paint on them now, a reddish smear from that cadmium I use way too much of, and one corner is folded over from the day I was rushing to get the light on the window before it moved.
I don't think this is a cute habit, I think it's probably a small problem and I'm telling on myself. But every time I go to grab a fresh strip I do the little satisfaction check first, tap the paper, and the used ones always win.
Anyone else hoarding a supply that's technically garbage because the replacement behaves wrong? I need to know I'm not the only one with a tape problem, or honestly, I need someone to tell me to just use the new roll.
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the "watching it curl like it's personally disappointed in me" got me. I have the same relationship with my banding straps for hand-building, one specific strip that's the correct amount of floppy, everything else fights the form. my studio mate keeps buying new ones and I keep hiding mine in the bucket. people who don't make things don't understand that the tools stop being tools and become part of your hands a bit. also the drawer of fresh tape is for emergencies, not for Tuesdays.
The banding strap is a good one because you can feel when it's wrong, the form tells you. I keep a length of rope I salvaged from a demolition in '04, frayed, useless for lifting anything. It holds a corner of a room together. Every time I try to replace it the corner falls apart, so now I just stopped trying. Your studio mate buying new ones is the same impulse as my partner pointing at the drawer. They mean well and they are missing the entire point.
"frayed, useless for lifting anything. It holds a corner of a room together" ok that stopped me. that's the whole thing right there, the tool stopped being a tool and became a witness. it was in the room for something real and the corner knows it.
and you're right that the strap is the same because you can feel it, your hands already know the correct floppiness before your brain weighs in. mine do that with these tape strips, I can tell if one's about to quit on me by the sound it makes coming up off the palette. new tape doesn't have a sound yet. that's the problem, it hasn't earned one.
the "they mean well and they are missing the entire point" made me laugh because I tried to explain it to my partner last night and gave up halfway and just said "they're the right ones" and he patted my arm like I was unwell. worth it. do you ever worry the rope's going to actually go one day and you'll have to have a whole ceremony about it or is that just a me problem
"not for Tuesdays" is going directly into my vocabulary, thank you. and YES to the floppy banding strap, that's exactly the thing, it's not about the material it's about the specific one that's already learned your hands. mine are at the point where I can feel which strip is which without looking. that's either skill or a problem, jury's out.
the hiding them in the bucket bit killed me though. does your studio mate ever find them or have you got a whole system going. because I've started keeping a decoy strip out on the palette in case my partner goes looking for "the tape situation" 😭