Sticky tape and post-its

I’m an office slash art supply junkie, and I must confess that whenever I hit the bookstore,I spend as much time in the supplies section as I do browsing books. And I end up carting out a bagful of supplies I don’t actually need — from yet another set of soft paintbrushes, or a new set of markers, or a nifty paper cutter — but I can’t seem to help myself!

Two supplies I really need to constantly replenish, however, are sticky tape (I’m partial to the Tartan brand) and post-its. I use, maybe, a roll of sticky tape a week for covering books (of course, I also use plastic cover), removing sticky price tags, and other random tasks (taping down a half-eaten bag of chips, labeling items in the fridge — I scrawl on the tape with a marker, etc), while I use post-its for marking passages I like in the books I’m reading and making notes about them, as well as putting up everyday reminders on my computer station at the office.

I write about sticky tape and post-its because I just read two books about them: Transparent Tape: Over 350 Super, Simple, and Surprising Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of by Vicki Lansky, and the Post-it book Ideas that Stick: 222 Ingenious, Creative, Practical, and Simply Preposterous Ways of Using Post-it Notes.

The Transparent Tape book reveals how Richard Drew, a 21-year old lab technician at 3M (then a struggling sandpaper manufacturer) got the idea of applying adhesive to a new packaging material called cellophane, and eventually came up with the Scotch Cellulose Tape, which 3M launched in 1930. Sticky tape then went on to become an industrial need and a household staple around the world.

This pocket-sized volume gives hundreds of ways to use transparent tape at home, for personal hygiene, for the kids, at work, while traveling, with pets, in sports, for hobbies, and even special occasions. Each section also showcases a cartoon illustration to show how the tape is used.

Here are some great ideas I got from the book:

– To check for ripeness in a melon, cut out a small triangle and taste. If it isn’t ready, stick the triangle back in and criss-cross over the piece with tape until it is ripe.

– Secure small bundles of fresh herbs to your cutting board with tape when chopping.

– Keep a cat inside a room by stretching tape across the doorway at the appropriate height. The cat won’t walk through the sticky side.

–  Tape a 3″ piece of tape to the bottom of your doorway when you leave for the day. When you return home, if the tape is broken, you will know to call police instead of entering a potentially dangerous situation.- Use tape to mark a straight line when trimming your bangs or mustache or sideburns.

– Put a piece of tape over your fingernails when trying on different colors of nail polish. If you don’t like the color, peel the tape off, and try a new shade.

– Tape a packaged pill to the face of your watch so you don’t forget to take it at the appropriate time (hahaha!)

– Repair your broken eyeglass frames, as a temporary measure, with transparent tape (like Harry Potter!)

– Put a piece of tape on a very young child’s finger when trying to photograph him or her. It makes for some interesting facial expressions as the child tries to peel it off.

On the whole the tips are not so impressive, a lot of the tips are common applications of sticky tape, but this book is still great for making the best use of this common household item. I wish they’d update this book with more ingenious uses, and to a full color version, too — that would make this book a lot more interesting.

Meanwhile, Ideas that Stick is a book that capitalizes on the branded sticky notes, with tips that range from inspired to incredible, which makes me think these little squares are a lot more useful than I thought!

The ideas presented in this book have been collected from real life post-it users, and the people behind the book took care to choose the really smart ones, because there are a lot of great ideas in this book for using post-its at home, in school, at work, on the road, and practically everywhere, as this little sticky note makes life a little more easier, and a lot more fun.

The book showcases creative uses of post-it such as learning a language by sticking post-it translations of vocabulary words around the house; post-it origami; piano navigation; mini flipbook; masking for paint jobs; determining a seating plan with post-it people profiles; flowcharting; sticking a post-it shopping list on the cart handles when you go grocery shopping; emergency gift wrapping; outlining the novel you’re writing; practicing the multiplication tables; last minute streamers; rolling posters; marking out laundry instructions; personal banking; asking a girl out on a date; dishing out household chore assignments; and many more!

The pages of the book are accented in vibrant post-it colors: green, yellow, sky blue, orange, pink, and purple, and the tips are accompanied by wonderful photos that illustrate the post-its in real-life use.

Clockwise from top left: book club notes and bookmarks, studying anatomy,
travel board games, deadly warning, and wineglass nameplates.

I enjoyed this second book over the first, and no doubt I’ll be trying out a lot of ideas from this book!

How about you, do you have any ingenious uses for sticky tape or post-its?

***

Transparent tape, paperback, 2/5 stars

Ideas that Stick., paperback, 4/5 stars

Books #165-166 for 2010

[amazonify]::omakase::300:250[/amazonify]

cover photo courtesy of sxc.hu