What is a packing tape image transfer? Think of it as a customizable sticker that you can print out on your home laser printer. I know, you may be saying, but I don't have a laser printer. You can get one very reasonably priced on Amazon. If a laser printer isn't in your budget, you can do what I used to do. I would get a fabulous image from The Graphics Fairy, print it on my inkjet printer, then I would take it to Staples to get a "toner" copy in their copy center.
So, there's really no excuse why you can't get creative and make your own packing tape images.
What can you use your packing tape stickers for?
- jars
- bottles
- mugs
- pillar candles
- plastic
- wood
The ideas are endless. Think about any special occasion that you may want to use a clear sticker. Make your own DIY gift tags, label storage boxes, or pantry labels. Do you do scrapbooking? Craft Projects? Okay, now that I have piqued your interest, let's see how easy it is to make your own images into clear stickers.
The materials list is pretty short:
- Laser Image
- Packing Tape
- Paper
- Scissors
- Some sort of burnishing tool, even a credit card or wooden spoon will do.
- Bowl of water
My laser printer uses black toner. Maybe yours prints in color, in that case you're all set!
Be sure to check out my tutorial on how to do an image transfer on furniture and painted bottles.
How to Make Easy Canister Labels
I bought plastic canisters for the camper on Amazon. They came with labels, but I wanted to make my own. I designed my image using PicMonkey and printed them out on my new laser printer. Wow! It's fast! By the way, it's much smaller than it appears in this picture.
Print & Cut Pantry Labels
Can you see that I have applied the tape to the words?
After applying the tape to the labels, burnish well. You want to make sure the tape sticks really well to the paper.
Soak packing tape image in warm water
The secret to making a good packing tape image transfer is soaking it in warm water. Don't worry about the tape not being sticky, it doesn't lose it's tackiness.
Peel away the printer paper
Now, it's time to peel away the paper from the packing tape. I found it's easiest to sort of roll it off. In my opinion, this packing tape image transfer paper removal is so much easier than the Mod Podge Reverse Image Transfer.
After you have removed the paper from all of your image transfers, allow them to dry thoroughly. If you want to save them for later, you can apply them sticky side down to wax paper.
DIY Canister labels
All of the packing tape transfers have been cleared of paper and are dry and ready to be applied to any surface. For me, it's the cheap plastic canisters I use in the camper. But you could use these on glass, or any other substrate of your choice.
The packing tape transfer is somewhat forgiving, if you need to readjust it. It's amazing how sticky it remains after being soaked in the bowl of water.
Here are the canisters in the camper. If you own a camper, you know that you need things to be compact and lightweight. Generally, they are stacked atop of one another as I add small appliances to the far right.
More packing tape image transfers
While I was playing around with my new laser printer, I printed a few logo images to see how that would go.
It's so easy, print, tape, soak. Do you have a small business? What would you put your packing tape image transfer on?
Me? Of course I had to put it on a hammer!
Tip: I used Gorilla packing tape for this project. Although it's a great packing tape, I found that the thinner "less strong" Scotch did a better job overall.
Topo Chico Bottle Upcycled
I downloaded and printed out this Toilet Water graphic from The Graphic Fairy. Again, I used my new laser printer that uses toner. Inkjet printers will not work for these packing tape image transfer projects.
After applying the tape, I grabbed a sharpie to "burnish" the tape to get the paper securely adhered to the packing tape.
Trim the image close to the edge. The closer you trim, the less paper you will have to remove.
Soak the image in warm water, and roll away the paper from the back.
I chose to use my upcycled Top Chico bottle to display a dried rose I've had for years.
Related Content:
DIY Packing Tape Transfers from The Graphics Fairy
I seriously hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and you do a packing tape image transfer soon!
gail
Collene
I love this! I need to find a Laser Printer. Do you apply any finish over the DECAL? I'm trying to figure out a way to print text and apply on the outside edge of a DT faux wood Charger? I have not figured out Design Space. 🤦♀️ My writing is terrible. I might try the chaulk transfer method. 🤷♀️
Gail Wilson
Welcome Collene! I'm in the process of getting a new email service, so you may receive duplicate welcomes. Somehow the form signed you up to the old service, so I moved you to the new one. 🙂 Thank you for your patience as that all gets ironed out.
Laser printers use to be so expensive, but the one I share in this article has been reasonably priced recently. Using the packing tape, no finish is needed. I would call it semi-permanent. Meaning you may not be able to wash it. My writing was never good, but as I age, it's even worse.
I love chalk couture. I've been doing it since May of 2018, and I still love it as much as ever. For the charger, if you "chalked" it with one of our transfers, I would definitely use a spray sealer over top of it. It takes that spray really well.
gail