Washi Tape Rolls

Short answer: buy rolls for colour and pattern, and a dispenser if you use tape often enough to be tired of hunting for the end of the roll. Rolls on this shelf start at $3.99, and the Van Gogh and Starry Sky sets are the two lines most people start with.

What is on the shelf

• Single-theme rolls. Colorful Van Gogh's Color Washi Tape at $5.99 carries the paintings across one roll — the economical way to test whether washi suits your pages.
• Sets. 12 Rolls Decorative Washi Masking Tapes at $8.99 gives twelve patterns in one box, which is usually what a first scrapbook actually needs.
• Dispensers. Transparent Visible Washi Tape Dispenser Cutter at $3.99 holds the roll and cuts it in one motion.

How to choose

Match the tape to the job. Narrow rolls for borders, headings and washi swatches; wider rolls for covering a whole panel or wrapping a gift. If you journal daily, buy the set and the dispenser together — the dispenser is the difference between using tape and avoiding it, because a roll that has lost its end costs more time than it saves.

What we check

Washi is judged on peel and tear. The peel test is the important one: we stick a strip to paper, press it down, leave it for a week and lift it. Tape that takes fibres with it, or leaves a shine behind, does not go on this shelf. The tear test is a hand-tear across the width — paper-based washi should part cleanly, and if it needs scissors it is vinyl tape wearing a washi label. Finally, we write on it with a gel pen after a few seconds of drying time, because writing on the tape is half the reason people use it.

Using it well

Tear rather than cut; a ragged edge looks intentional and a machine edge looks pasted. Layer two patterns of different scale — a fine stripe over a bold floral — instead of two competing patterns of the same density. And burnish the strip with a fingernail once it is placed: washi is low-tack by design, and a light press is what keeps a border down at the edge of a page that gets handled.