Thursday, April 7, 2011

2 people + 3 rolls of duct tape = not as much fun as you might imagine

I thought today would be a good day to write about my adventures in the as yet uncompleted Duct Tape Double. It is currently in a pile on a plastic drop cloth in our second bathroom, which we rarely use since it is just the two of us. There are no pictures because the wrapping process was so frustrating and uncomfortable for me that I didn’t have B take any. I think the idea is great and I even at this point I would recommend it, but it has not been fun. At all.

We started Saturday afternoon. I put on an old t-shirt. We had 3 rolls of duct tape, scissors, and instructions for the right way to wrap pulled up on the computer. I thought we were prepared. B and I both have very strong streaks of perfectionism and this is a hard thing to do perfectly. Pretty quickly we were both grumpy and I desperately wanted to sit down, but that would be impossible until we were done. I couldn’t bend enough to pick up my water, and I wouldn’t move my arms enough to be able to drink without a straw. Who knew that I straw would be a necessary supply?!?

After about 3 ½ hours, and a call to a friend saying we would be late for dinner, we were able to cut me out of the tape form. At this point it looked fantastic, you will just have to take my word for it. We used black duct tape for the outer layer, so it was like an awesome, shiny minidress, with pink likes at center front, center back, and waist. I really wish I would have taken a picture. As soon as we got me out of the tape, I got dressed and we headed out to meet a friend for my belated birthday dinner.

The next day, after taping up the sides and the arm and neck holes, It was time to start filling it with foam. Shortly after I started I realized something was off and that we had gotten the wrong kind of expanding spray foam. Turns out, there is one kind for small gaps, and another for larger cavities. Guess which one we got? So I ended up frustrated and leaving it on a pile on the bathroom floor. On Monday Brian went in to look at it and try to remove the problem foam, only to discover that white the top layer had cured, everything that wasn’t exposed to air was still liquidy and he ended up with it on his hands. According to the can this stuff is removable with acetone before it cures, but he found that not be the case, so he currently has spots of cured foam stuck to his hands, which will hopefully wear off in the near future.

I took him out to dinner…

Maybe this weekend we will procure the correct foam and make another go of it. We think the duct tape form is salvageable, but who knows. I still think it is a great idea, and will be very useful for me if we ever get it done, but so far this has been incredibly frustrating. Have you attempted a duct tape double? How did it go? Have you thought about it?

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