Sunday, May 10, 2009 9:11 PM CDT
Mattoon woman stuck on duct tape as a home-based business
By TONY REID, Staff Writer
MATTOON — ABBA, that gone but never quite forgotten Swedish pop group, had a big hit in 1976 with the song “Money, Money, Money, It’s a Rich Man’s World.”
The new 21st century version of the lyrics could easily go like this:
“Money money, money,
“Must be funny.
“In the duct tape world.
“All the things I could do,
“If I had a little duct tape,
“It’s a duct tape world.”
All of which brings us to Cat Miller, who lives outside Mattoon and runs a home-based business called “Duct Tape Dreams.” Using a palette of more than 20 duct tape colors ranging from orange to turquoise, plus the familiar silver-gray and just about any shade in between, she makes various styles of handbags, purses, wallets, checkbook covers, tote bags and jewelry.
Some of her bags use reinforced vinyl record album covers to form the sides, with cunningly woven duct tape binding it all into a pleasingly retro funky accessory you won’t find at Wal-Mart, although that retail temple does stock multicolored duct tape, according to Miller. One of her album bags actually features the dated smiling Swedish faces of ABBA and duct tape numbers such as this typically sell for $25 and up, or $20 if you provide the album.
Given that pretty colored duct tape goes for $6 or more a roll and it can take up to 20 yards to stick together some complex bag designs, Miller isn’t exactly laughing all the way to the rich man’s world herself. But sales have gone on a roll, as word of this duct tape diva’s prowess has spread, and her table often is sticky with customers at craft and art shows.
“I even called myself the ‘Duct Tape Diva’ but there is this lady in Idaho who is named the ‘Diva of Duct Tape’ and she threw this big old hissy fit and threatened me with lawyers, so I changed my business name,” explains Miller, 26.
“There are a lot of people out on the Web doing this stuff.”
Miller got into it several years ago after a friend introduced her. “And my first bags back then took me five or six hours to do,” she said. “Now, I can do some bags in about an hour and a half.”
The tape is used folded over on itself and woven, or it can be stuck to other materials, such as the album covers. No matter the approach, however, it’s always tenacious and tricky to work with. “You end up without fingerprints after a while,” Miller says.
To maintain her competitive edge in the intensive world of duct tape fashion accessories, Miller goes for high quality and variety. Her duct tape hair clips woven to look like hibiscus flowers are works of art, and her duct tape necklace formed from connected links of duct tape is strong while being delicate and intricate, all at the same time.
She does a lot of custom work, too, and her inventive mind has stretched itself into other areas: How about a nursery room wreath decoration made out of (unused, of course) paper diapers? Or she offers decorative and colorful “diaper cake” decorations for an ideal baby shower gift, with the wreaths and cakes all designed to store diapers in creative ways until natural processes demand their intended use.
Miller, who has a small daughter and a baby on the way, also retails a colorful cloth “Bundle of Joy Baby Wrap” that comes with a booklet showing 70 hands-free ways to “wrap your kid” so you can carry baby around without breaking your back.
“The wrap is just wonderful,” says Miller friend Lindsey Bartels, whose daughter is 3 months old. “When she was first born, she would not let me put her down, and I had to hold her all the time. So, as Kat had given me a wrap as a baby shower gift, we started using that, and it was just perfect; we used it all the time.”
Miller cuts in here with a quick jest: “No, you can’t duct tape the baby to yourself,” she says with a grin. “It would really get too hot for them.”
You can, however, use the tape for all seasons for just about everything else. Originally developed during World War II as a general purpose, waterproof, reinforced repair tape, it has long since woven its way into American folklore.
For example, when the Apollo 13 crew faced death unless they could jury-rig a system of CO2 scrubbers, Ken Canfield, the designer on the ground who came up with the answer, said he knew the situation was fixable when he found out there was a roll of duct tape aboard. “I felt like we were home free,” he was quoted as saying.
Duck Tape, a major duct tape manufacturer, even has a Web site where folks can boast of their innovative tape uses.
How about this from Connie T. of Platteville, Wis.: “For personal use, I used Duck Tape in a pageant to hold up my bust during the evening gown competition.”
Or this from Karyn F. of Port Angeles, Wash.: “Using Duck Tape and plastic wrap, you can fashion a unique dress or other clothing item … wrap the body part in plastic wrap, then cover with tape. Cut to remove.”
Perhaps fearing where some of this is going, the Web site also has a statement from the Duck Tape lawyers warning: “Every consumer needs to evaluate and determine whether duct tape is fit for a particular purpose and suitable for the user’s method of application.”
It’s clearly a lot safer to just stick with the many and varied Miller product line and not get too carried away, such as actually using duct tape to repair heating and cooling ducts, for example, where it’s notorious for not lasting too long. “I have contractors come up to me all the time and say, “Yeah, on my air conditioners, I can’t use that stuff,” explains Miller.
“Then they get out their wallets, and they’re often covered in duct tape that’s holding them together.”
Contact Tony Reid at treid@herald-review.com or 421-7977.
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