Duct Tape Crafts - Paintings

Duck tape paintings are basically just duct tape on a canvas or piece of cardboard. They're pretty simple and just vary in difficulty based on the designs you use. These designs will enhance any room easily, and most importantly, cheaply.

In this tutorial, I'll be making Dory from Finding Nemo, my favorite childhood movie. :)

How to Make a Duct Tape Painting

What You'll Need:
-Cardboard or canvas
-Design (for your first time, I recommend using a simple one, maybe in black and white?)
-Duct tape (all the colors used in your design, and a background color)
-Cutting board 
-Xacto knife (Sorry, you cannot use scissors)
-Clear tape
-Masking tape

Steps:

Print a design. It doesn't have to be perfect; as you can see in the picture my printer is not the best in the world, but it works.

Next, take your first tape color and put as many strips as you need on the cutting board. There should be enough to cover the area of that color on your design.

 Tape your design onto the cutting board over the strips of the color you just put down. Begin tracing that color on the design.

In my case, I traced the blue parts.

Once you are done tracing, peel away the extra tape.

My design looks like this after peeling away the tape.

Cover your design with masking tape.

Peel the design up. This is done so that the design isn't altered when you put it on the canvas/cardboard.

Cover the canvas or cardboard you are using with your background color.

Place the masking tape with your design on it onto the canvas or cardboard. Peel away the masking tape, leaving the design. 

Use the printed design to cut out the next color. In my case, I cut out the black.

Use the same steps that you did to put the first clor on the canvas/cardboard to put the next colors on it.

Continue adding colors.

I added "Keep calm and just keep swimming" to the design. You can make anything using the steps I have showed you.

Congratulations, you have made a painting out of duct tape! You can put it anywhere to add a little fun to the room. Here are some of my other designs that I made using the same method:

(I like Marina and the Diamonds)

(I like Supernatural)

(I like Doctor Who) 

(I like the Hunger Games)

Craft Stick Catapult

How to make a craft stick catapult

What you'll need:
-6-7 Craft sticks
-4 wooden clothespins
-2 medium binder clips
-1 small binder clip
-6-10 rubber bands
-1 plastic spoon
-Tape
-Glue (optional)

Steps:

Take three of the craft sticks. Tape or glue them together. Do the same with another three craft sticks. You should have one left over.

Clip two of the clothespins onto one of the groups of craft sticks, one on each end, as shown below. Note that they are clipped sideways onto the craft sticks. From here I will refer to this piece as A.

Clip the other two clothespins to the other group of craft sticks, one on each end, as shown below. Note that they are NOT done the way the previous ones were. From here I will refer to this piece as B.

Attach a medium binder clip to the middle of A with the handles upright.

Attach a binder clip to the middle of B with the handles pointed down. The handles should follow the direction of the clothespins.

Tape the plastic spoon to one of the handles of the binder clip attached to A. Put the small binder clip onto the spoon.

Use the rubber bands to attach the clothespins from B to the craft sticks of A.

Flip a handle from the binder clip on B upwards. Put a rubber band around it and around the spoon.

Flip the handle back down and use the small binder clip to hold the rubber band around the spoon in place.

(Optional) Place the remaining craft stick in between the clothespins attached to A. This creates a more stable frame.

Congratulations! You have made a craft stick catapult. You can use it to fire marshmallows, peanuts, or just about anything that will fit in the spoon. To fire, pull back the spoon and release.

Miniature Crossbow

How to make a miniature crossbow

What you'll need:
-4 pencils
-2 pen caps
-1 binder clip
-Tape (masking or duct)
-6 rubber bands

Steps:

Tape the pencils together in pairs.

Attach the two pairs of pencils together using a rubber band. The horizontal pair should be about 1-2 inches from the end of the vertical one.

Cut the 5 remaining rubber bands. 

Put the rubber bands through the binder clip.

Put the ends of the rubber bands into the pen caps (you'll have to hold them there for now).

Put the pen caps (with the rubber bands in them) on the ends of the pencils.

(Optional) Fold two pieces of tape at the center of the strips and attach them to the vertical pair of pencils. This will make it easier to shoot.

Congratulations! You have completed your miniature crossbow! You can use pencils, pens, or markers to attack others from a distance. Pull the binder clip and release to shoot.