Washi tape was ruining my book repairs until a librarian set me straight

I used to fix ripped pages with washi tape because it was cute and cheap. Last month a librarian at the public library in Des Moines saw me patching a old Dr. Seuss and she said 'that tape will eat the paper in 5 years.' I laughed it off but then she showed me a book from the 90s where some had done the same thing. The tape had turned yellow and brittle, and the acid had actually stained the page worse than the rip. She handed me some plain pH neutral library tape and a bone folder. I switched completely. Now I use that for all my mends at $6 a roll, and I save the washi for scrapbook nonsense. Has anyone else found out the hard way that cute fixes do more harm than good?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_hart11d agoMost Upvoted

How much damage did that old book actually show you before you took the librarian seriously? The yellowing and brittle edges usually take a few years to really sink in, so seeing it firsthand makes a huge difference. Did that sample change how you pick tape for other projects now?

the_evan10d ago

That librarian showed me a 1994 children's book where the washi tape had turned into a crusty dark stripe, and the acid had eaten a hole right through the page under the strip. I switched to a roll of Lineco pH neutral tape and never looked back, it costs maybe 8 bucks and lasts forever. Now I keep a cutoff of the old washi in my repair kit as a reminder that cute fixes are for greeting cards, not books.