Washi tape vs masking tape and painter's tape

Washi tape is a multi purpose type of masking tape you can use in your journals, artworks, cards and more. It’s the perfect material to decorate your paper, make borders or use directly as masking tape.

This versatile tape is made out of very thin rice paper, making it very easy to tear with your own hand and create beautiful effects in your journals.

Washi tape has taken the market by storm because there are so many different washi tape patterns and lovely colours that every person can find washi tape according to their taste.

We thought it was very important to highlight the differences between painters tape, masking tape and washi tape.

Both masking tape and painters tape come in a variety of widths, none of which is thin enough to be compared to thin washi tape rolls.

If you have any more questions, shoot us a comment or email and we'll add the answer to this blog post.

Washi tape vs masking tape

Masking tape paper is usually lower quality than washi’s, and the adhesive is stronger - making it difficult to remove in certain situations, specially when working with watercolour and mixed media paper.

Another downside to generic masking tape is bleeding through the edges. Washi is very helpful for making sure your edges stay bleed-free and without any ripping.

If you have been using your preferred masking tape without an issue while removing it, then washi will be an upgrade in colour and style! Perfect to spruce up your watercolour painting videos with a pop of colour.

You can get Life of Colour rainbow washi tape, containing 10 rolls of 1cm washi representing each colour of the rainbow to allow each person to customize and decorate their washi tapes however they desire!

Washi tape vs painters tape

The difference between washi tape and painters tape is a lot more noticeable. Masking and painters tapes are often confused, but painters tape is designed specifically for painting jobs.

Painters tape is built to be used with paint on walls and wood materials, but is not always the right fit for masking on paper.

While the adhesive removes cleanly from walls, that’s not always the case with paper. If you have been using painters tape to mask your paper regularly, then washi will be (again) a visual improvement!

On the contrary if you have had encounters with painters tape ripping your paper, try washi and see how easy it is to remove it once you finished your artwork.

How to use washi tape

Washi tape is a multi purpose type of masking tape you can use in your journals, artworks, cards and more. In this article we'll show you the best uses the creative community has found for this cute material! We can all agree a desk full of washi is a lot more colourful!