Gummed paper tape

I've been thrilled to discover a way to make gummed paper tape when you need it. This could be useful in our climate where the humidity dampens those very expensive rolls of gummed tape enough to stick them together and ruin them before you've used a fraction of the roll. The way to do it yourself is to cut some strips of ordinary brown paper, a heavyish weight, brush on gum arabic and allow to dry. When you're ready to use the tape dampen the glued side with a sponge and apply.

What's it good for? It's good for stretching watercolour paper (on a board that's bigger all round), and easy to remove afterwards by dampening it because gum arabic remains water-soluble.

It's also great for sealing the edges of a screen for art screenprinting. After it has dried give the tape a double coat of polyurethane varnish.

See also Testing the gummed paper tape

Tree, Chaguaramas -- Update

After printing a few sheets of the third colour I've decided to abandon this print for now because the registration of the yellow is way off. I didn't realise it was so bad until the third color went on. Luckily each colour is on a separate block so starting again is no problem except I'm out of paper and will have to wait for more to arrive before going ahead. Expecting to resume in a week or ten days.