Duct tape, who knew?

Sure, it holds your car and garbage can together. In a pinch, it'll patch almost anything. But who knew it was artistic?

The folks at Redline Tavern, 1200 N. Wisconsin, knew.


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This weekend they're holding their Second Annual Duct-to-Do, an event fueled by duct tape (and beer, duh!), a contest in which artists of every stripe make whatever they can dream up out of (you can see this coming, right?) duct tape.

Boring grey duct tape. And blue, red, yellow, green, purple, black ... the whole rainbow, in fact.



To get the mood started, the Redline is decorated with duct tape bats hung from the ceiling, and owner Connie Nau has created a large and scary spider.

While we watched on Saturday, regular Tracey Larrin was putting the finishing touches on a life-size witch: black outfit and pointed hat, green face, red lips, complete down to a wart on her nose. The broom will be a finishing touch.

All made of duct tape. "I wanted to make a pumpkin," she said, "but there was no orange tape."

Last year, Tracey made a dress from duct tape. Very slinky, and she wore it to a party. "But I couldn't sit, and I couldn't pee..." she said, her voice drifting off. (Yeah, we've been there, done that, although not so much in a duct tape dress.)


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3M donated the raw stock. There are rules, of course, and two categories: objects made with tape stuck on a base of cardboard or wire or whatever, and objects made just of tape itself.

Lots of prizes too ... all made of duct tape.

So far, entries include a purse, earings, a couple of ties, a dress, a wallet, flowers.

Hey, you can't watch football all the time!