One of my favorite moments in the shop is when a customer walks up to the washi tape display and says "what's this?". Introducing folks to the excitement of washi tape and all of its uses is so satisfying. Their eyes light up when they start to imagine the possibilities as they peruse the selection.
Today's blog is dedicated to this magical tape, it's history, and it's many uses. So sit tight and enjoy the read if you want to learn a little bit more about why we love washi tape so much.
Washi tape can be found almost anywhere these days from little shops like mine to big box stores. However, not all washi tape is made alike and I tend to prefer the washi tape that is made in Japan. That should not come as a surprise as not only do we often have an expectation for Japan to create fabulous well made things but washi tape as we know it today actually originated in Japan where it is most commonly referred to as masking tape.
So what is it? Washi tape is a decorative, removable, water repellent, durable, tearable, and biodegradable tape. It comes in so many colors, sizes, thicknesses, shapes and patterns and has an endless amount of uses. Basically, anything you use tape for in your daily life you can use washi tape for. The great thing about switching to washi tape instead of clear plastic tape is that washi tape is biodegradable so it will break down and never end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
When made in Japan, washi tape is made from washi (paper that is made from mulberry tress) and a natural rubber adhesive. Although I should say that there are many transparent washi tapes on the market at the moment and those in fact are not biodegradable. Here at Pink Moon Goods we are always striving to keep plastic out of the ocean and waterways so we are committed to only selling the paper based washi tape.
So what is washi you may be asking? The word "washi" refers to Japanese Paper made from plants. This handmade paper technique seems to have originated in China around the year 105AD and was later introduced to Japan in the year 610AD by Doncho, a Buddhist Monk from Korea. Since that time paper making became an integral part of Japanese culture and like most traditions its methods and techniques were passed from generation to generation. Although in the beginning washi was made from the strong fibers of typical foliage found in Japan, mainly kozo, bamboo, gampi, rice and mistsuma plants, today about 90% of washi is made from the kozo (mulberry) fibers.
The production of washi relies heavily on cold, pure, and fresh running water. This made it easy for farmers to make washi in the winter as there was plenty of ice water and the kozo shrubs where harvested during the cold months of the year.
The only thing that can make a traditional practice more interesting is to introduce a mythological figure and washi does not disappoint. Based on a 1500 year old legend it is said that ‘Kawa-kami Gozen’, a paper goddess, brought the art of paper making to the Japanese city of Echizen. Many villages and cities, like Echizen, took advantage of the winter months and lack of rice crops to manufacture washi paper. While not the only paper deity in Japan I do think she is pretty cute. I found this image of her on note.com.
Washi tape is similar to masking tape which originated in 1925 by 3M employee, Richard Drew. Drew was inspired to create a tape that had a gentler adhesive than the common tapes being used in the a variety of industries that 3M served. There was a growing frustration among the autobody workers when the tape they were using was ripping off the freshly applied car paint. From this frustration masking tape was born.
Kamoi Kakoshi, a Japanese company that started as “Kamoi’s Haitori Paper Mill” in 1923 eventually made the move to manufacturing paper adhesive tape in 1961. As time went on they began to turn their focus from really aggressive tapes that clung to everything for dear life towards a tape that could be removed easily. For some time it remained a plain, solid colored practical tool.
Everything changed in 2006 when the company was approached by three women from Tokyo who wanted to show how they used their industrial tapes in craft projects that were created in this book pictured above. On the MT Masking Tape site there is a statement that reads:
"It was a mini book created by three women who were fascinated by masking tape. It was filled with fantastically designed features, clearing away our concept that masking tape is a typical product for an industrial use. We were deeply impressed by them and started development of mt to meet their request to make "masking tapes of different new colors." mt tape with twenty different colors like color pencils was completed as a result of repeated try and error."
This inspired the company that we all have to come to know and love, MT Masking Tape! To this day I admit they have the best product on the market. They work with lots of artists and have a huge variety of different types of patterns, prints, sizes, and surface textures. Recently they have even expanded to a tape made from recycled paper. All thanks to those ladies!
Although the tape is beloved amongst crafters (as it should be) here at Pink Moon Goods we are very fond of using washi tape for many practical and helpful purposes, as well as crafting. We use it to hang signs, decorate packages, make signs, decorate display containers, repair boxes or other paper objects like the holes on paper, and of course to decorate with as bunting (our favorite washi tape craft). It is a fun way to label jars at home, hangup signs for your housemates, seal envelopes, and mark things that are yours (like lighters) so that no one can walk off with them.
