Recently, Pro Tapes® commissioned a local shop to frame some of our corporate collection. In the process, we wanted to get a closer look at how our tapes are used by framers. This is the first of four pieces we framed to profile on our blog, it’s a print advertisement, a single page mounted and framed with chrome fillets.
More about our tapes featured in the video – specialty tapes for framers
Pro® Fillet Tape
Pro® Fillet Tape is designed specifically to make framing with fillets more efficient. Whether bonding fillets to the back of a mat or to the side of a shadow box frame, it’s the most efficient adhesive for the job. Pro® Fillet Tape combines the perfect level of adhesive tack and its narrow width which means a single strip is the right size for almost any fillet.
Forget about messy glues or cutting other tapes to size. It can also be used to adhere smaller keepsake items when shadow box framing. Want to find out where to buy Pro® Fillet Tape? Use the form below and we’ll connect you with a dealer.
Pro® Felt Tape
Pro® Felt Tape is one of our newest products in our product lineup for framers. This tape has soft felt on one side and a strong adhesive on the other. The adhesive sticks well to the metals used in hanging hardware and the soft felt protects surfaces; so naturally it’s a great choice for covering the hardware on your finished work.
Many framers will use additional strips towards the bottom of the piece to replace using typical rubber bumpons which can fall off over time or leave their own impression on your wall. Pro® Felt Tape is also great for quickly lining the sidewalls of a shadow box frame. We’ll have more on that in an upcoming video where we mount a football jersey in a shadow box frame using Pro® Felt Tape.
Pro® ATG
ATG tapes are adhesives dispensed by an Adhesive Transfer Gun (ATG). Pro® 154 and Pro® 410 ATG tapes are must-haves for any professional framer. They can tackle most tasks where glue would be the typical go-to. ATG tapes are becoming more popular amongst scrapbookers, card makers and other hobbyist who favor the cleanliness, zero-dry-time and ease of applying ATG tapes over the use of glue. Pro Tapes® makes two popular ATG products.
Pro® 154 ATG tape is our most popular ATG tape. Its dispensed with our Pro® ATG dispenser and as its dispensed, the liner is consumed by the gun leaving only adhesive behind. It’s the simplest one-step application of uniform, strong, clean adhesive. Perfect for professional framing and all crafts.
Professional framers use Pro® 154 Adhesive transfer tape to apply dust covers, splice dust covers together, floatmounting and generally any task where messy glue would otherwise be an option.
Pro® 410 ATG tape is similar but infused with a tough membrane to give it extra holding power. You’ll notice the difference as soon as you apply it. Its stronger, has more adhesive tack and a more tape-like feel than its Pro® 154 counterpart. Pro 410® is for heavier-duty applications when a stronger bond and more durability is required. As you’ll see in our video, framers find Pro® 410 particularly useful when bonding a mat to a foam core board or building out the back of the mat to adjust for the height of fillets.
Pro® 183 Kraft
Pro® 183 Kraft Tape is a diverse product for which professional framers find countless uses in their shops. It’s a lightweight kraft paper tape and easy to tear. Most commonly, it’s used by professionals to wrap their finished framed worked in kraft paper.
To find out more about any of these products, please complete the form below.
How these tapes are being used in this video
To start, we have our fillet assembled and our mat prepped with a reverse bevel ready to accept the fillet.
Next, Pro® Fillet Tape is applied to the backside of the mat close to the mat opening.
Then we strip away Pro® Fillet Tape’s release backing so the mat is ready to receive the fillet.
The fillet is installed, just add a bit of pressure to engage the adhesive qualities of the tape.
As you can see, most fillet installed into a mat opening will expose roughly up to 1/8″ thick of fillet material on the back of a mat. Apply Pro® 410 ATG Tape to the back side of the mat in order to securely lay down foam core strips to hold the fillet in place and make a level flat surface more receptive to hinging the printed artwork.
Using our blue Pro® ATG HD Dispenser apply Pro® 154 double sided ATG Tape to the outer edge of the backside of the picture frame.
Apply the backing paper over the exposed ATG to bind it to the frame.
Then use a safety razor to gently trim the excess backing paper away.
After attaching your picture frame wire hanger, use the Pro Tapes® Pro® Felt Tape cut in small tabs (seen here) to keep the hanging hardware from scratching the wall it hangs from. Some framers will uses larger 3″ strips to completely cover the hardware.
Finally, nothing makes for better presentation than using Pro® 183 brown kraft tape when wrapping your frame job!
