Mix tape

I miss mix tapes. I used to make them all the time, including taping songs off the radio and sitting down and creating an actual mix for someone. I still have a box of cassette tapes. Occasionally, I'll get them out and read through the mix liner notes or actual liner notes from cassette tapes I kept from the late 1980s through the late 1990s. My stereo has a cassette deck so I can still listen to them too, but I can't make any more mix tapes. Sad.

Back in 2018, I decided to try embroidering with cassette tape ribbon. This idea came out of a larger discussion with my friend Anita about how to reuse old VHS and cassette tapes. My first attempt at using cassette tape ribbon as thread went pretty well. I tried several techniques during my first attempt, and the best one was using the ribbon as it were normal thread. This technique was the most consistent, easiest to do, and created some nice stitches. If you want to try it out, make sure you have needles with larger eyes, like chenille needles. Cassette tape ribbon is wide, so it won't fit in a needle with a smaller eye.

I've used cassette tape ribbon in a few other pieces I've done since, and even included it back in January for my Bowie birthday piece. Today's piece is my latest cassette tape ribbon piece, and I'm very pleased with it. 

While the design is pretty simple, the way the ribbon sits on fabric is fun and if you look closely, you'll notice that some of the stitches are a different color. I used two pieces of ribbon from the same cassette, so the difference in color is because of what happens when plastic passes through fabric - it sheds. Stitches at the start of a piece of cassette tape ribbon will most closely resemble the ribbon as it was when starting; stitches near the end will have less of the original color and may even look clear. It's like aging fabric without having to do much work. While I haven't tried to do this intentionally, I see potential in that from a design perspective. It would be a good way to create different colors of cassette tape ribbon; most actual ribbon is either black or brown. 

I also came up with a fun idea for a larger piece or series of pieces featuring cassette tape ribbon. It also involves paper, old records, and concert tickets. More to come on this project.

In case you've never seen cassette tape ribbon. I don't know what this tape was originally since I took it apart. Could have been 90s hits from the radio; could have been choral concerts I never attended. We'll never really know. 

Details:
Stitches: back and straight stitches
Other materials: cassette tape ribbon