Craft Lab: Duct Tape Mania!

Duct Tape--on beyond duct work!

Supplies:
Duct tape (buy tons.  more than you think you'll need.  in colors and in patterns.)
scissors
cardboard
permanent markers (variety of colors!)
patterns and instructions for projects (see links at the bottom of this post for ideas)
plastic "jewels" (optional)
sticky back velcro (optional)





Instructions:
1.  Explain to the group how to make "duct-tape fabric," since many of the projects use that concept.  Have a sample to show.  Have printed instructions for projects available for them to look at.
2.  Let participants know how many pieces they are allowed to create, but that they can ask for permission to make more if their pieces are small (the person who made bows made more than three projects, the person who made the skirt made only one project.  This group was actually great at self-regulating!).
3.   Let the creativity begin!  In our class, some people covered objects they'd brought in with them:

while others made quick and easy projects:

luggage tag--brilliant!

 cool postcard idea!

it's a tie!

and one person worked on a fantastic large scale project (i must admit that i was a bit nervous about allowing her to use this much tape (what if everyone else decides to make a skirt too?  what if she gets the tape stuck to itself and botches the whole project and wastes that much tape?!) but no one else attempted it and she made a terrific skirt!):

and some even collaborated with other participants (the bow for her pocket was gifted to her by our prolific bow-maker!)

Tons of fun and some great ideas for the next Duct Tape Mania too!

Hindsight tips:
--at the beginning of the program, ask participants to be conscious of not over-using the special prints.  There are generally less of those, so, for instance, if you're making a wallet, consider making the interior of the wallet from a coordinating solid and the exterior from the print.  This wasn't a problem at this particular program, but it had been an issue at a past program, so I did ask this group to limit their use of prints and we ended up having a few rolls that didn't even get opened by the end of the class!

Project Idea Links:
bows
braided bracelet
wallets
flowers
simple flip flops
luggage tag
cell phone case
ties