Make Magazine's Weekend Projects: Make A Wallet Out Of Tape

Last crawled date: 1 year, 6 months ago

How To Make A Tape WalletBre PettisMake: MagazineI looked around the internet and drew from many sources and picked out the way I wanted my wallet to look. Please customize your wallet, make your own modifications and improvements and make your own wallet exactly the way you want it!Tools:•Scissors•Ruler•Exacto-style knife (optional)•A chopping board or something similar to cut on with the knife so you don’t ruin your table. Materials:•Tape – I want my wallet to be black and so I used black Gaffer Tape which is used in the film and photography business and is fancy stuff. I also used book binding tape which is fancy (and archival) and red. Of course there is always silver duct tape, but the cheap stuff can squish out sticky.•A bit of clear plastic. I cut mine out of the top of a plastic containter of grapes. I’ve heard of people using plastic bags, but I wanted mine to be stiff instead of flexible.•Customizing details like ribbons, stickers, and sparkly bits. (optional)Component One: The Outer PieceIn order to make a tape wallet you need to be make tape fabric. Tape Fabric is when you take pieces of tape and overlap them to make a sheet of tape and then make another sheet of tape to go over that one and trim it to size. Getting good at making tape fabric is the true craft of making tape wallets. It’s worth practicing first. Keep in mind that the only way to improve your skills is to use them. Don’t let getting frustrated stop you from improving your skills. Ball up the tape that you mess up with and use the size of the ball to measure your passion for making things! The first piece is a tricky one because you want to have ½” of sticky tape around the edges that you will use later to help hold the whole thing together. This will be the outside of the wallet and I’ve added stripes of different colored tape to make it unique.I want my wallet to be 4 ¼” x 3 ½” when folded up. When it is unfolded, I want it to be 8 ½” x 3 ½” so that paper money fits into it neatly and receipts don’t stick out of it and look messy.The bottom layer of this tape fabric will be 9 1/2” x 4 1/2” with the sticky side up. This includes the extra tape around the edge that is still sticky. The top layer will be 8 ½” x 3 ½”.Notice that the top two corners have been cut out. This is something I figured out on my second wallet to improve the design. Don’t fold these over yet, set this piece aside until the final assembly.Component Two: Inner Billfold PieceMake a piece of tape fabric that is 8 ½” x 3 ½”. This will go over the first piece to make the pocket where paper money will go. Component Three: Card PocketsMake two pieces of tape fabric that will get layered and taped down and be the place where you will put cards. Make the first one 4” x 2” and the second one 4”x1 ½”. Set these aside until the final assemblyComponent Four: Window PocketYou can make the first rectangle above with 4 pieces of ½” tape or you could use a a hobby knife to cut it out. You can get away with using the extra tabs of sticky tape in step one for the right and bottom sides of the holder. For the clear material, I used a piece of a grape container that was in my recycle bin. Wait to put them together until the final assembly.Final AssemblyNow that you have all the parts cut out and ready, it’s time for the final assembly. First fold down the top sticky part of component one. Then, you will stack component one on top of component two. Now place components three and four on top of it all and fold the rest of the sticky parts from component one over. You’ll need to add some more tape in the center of the wallet to make the pockets functional.Be careful, making things out of tape appears to be addicting. Now that I’ve made a wallet, I am tempted to join the legions of people who make bags, belts, and homecoming outfits out of tape! #bre #brepettis #duck_tape #duct_tape #duct_tape_wallet #make #make_magazine #tape_wallet #video_blog #video_podcast #weekend_projects