Gaffer's tape

fredjclaus

Do any of you use gaffer's tape for ahearing the fabric backdrops to things? I was just watching a video on doing tabletop photography and they were using gaffers tape to ahear the cloth to a backdrop stand and then adhear another cloth to that one.

This option was very interesting to me, but what if you don't have any gaffer tape and there are no commercial photography rental places around here. Will duct tape do just as good?

DonRicklin

Home Depot now sells a version of Gaffer's tape arounf here. Anyhow. You can order rolls on line or, go to a theatrical supply house in NYC!

Or BMI in Queesbury, NY.



Don

hgernhardtjr

There is quite a bit of difference between duct and gaffer tape. Gaffer tape (and the narrower "spike" tape) stick STRONGLY, but pull off leaving virtually no residue. Duct/Duck tape does not. I've seen gaffer tape in many colors, but I personally prefer and use the flat black or very dark variants. I order what I use as it is almost impossible to find locally for me ... thanks for the tip Fred, I'll check out what HomeDepot has.

Nikolai

NEVER use duct tape - strong residue!
Gaffer tape sells in same hardware stores, often placed next to duct tape. Clerks may not know about it, so you just have to look.
I use it all the time, it's one of the best things for the price....

Art Scott

fredjclaus wrote:

Do any of you use gaffer's tape for ahearing the fabric backdrops to things? I was just watching a video on doing tabletop photography and they were using gaffers tape to ahear the cloth to a backdrop stand and then adhear another cloth to that one.

This option was very interesting to me, but what if you don't have any gaffer tape and there are no commercial photography rental places around here. Will duct tape do just as good?

DUCT TAPE AND GAFFERS ARE VERY SIMILAR IN STRENGTH....that is where the similarilty ends......
Gaffers is actually a true cloth tape and the glue leaves behind NO residue....so it can be stuck to floors, walls ....anything with no worries of having to clean off the residual residue left behind.......

Duct tape is just for that sealing duct work and it will leave behind a very nasty and hard to clean off residual residue.......
Along these same lines are masking tape, electrical tape and most other tapes.....all leave behind a residual residue to be cleaned off the surface...some worse than others.....only the blue painters masking tape does not leave behind that residual residue...but it also has no holding strength.......................