The Duct Tape Wallet
I invented the duct tape wallet. Or at least I think I may
have. Frankly, I haven't gone to a lot of trouble to try and figure out the
historical truth, and I suspect it would be a very hard thing to prove. Here's
the story:
I was one of the founding members of the Jim Rose Sideshow in the early 1990's.
We toured all around the world, and one of the highlight tours for me was
Lollapalooza in 1992. It was a huge ego rush, being able to "hang out" with real
live rock stars. Even more fundamentally, other performers appreciated what we
did, and we got lots of positive feedback from them. But being a performer puts
strange kinks into your lifestyle. One is that you have a great deal of "down
time" while you are simply waiting around to perform. You can either do
meaningful things with this time or you can waste it. Unfortunately on
Lollapalooza, we usually performed in "sheds" or large outdoor performance
spaces away from the big cities. You couldn't just walk to a museum for an
afternoon's edification.
One thing to do to pass the time was arts and crafts. I began to notice that the
technicians (don't call them roadies) used a great deal of duct tape, and would
often simply discard the roll before they got to the end and leave a significant
amount of tape. I also noticed it wasn't really duct tape, as the fabric was
tightly woven into a crosshatched pattern. In fact I learned it was called
"gaffer's tape", and indeed was a significantly superior product than ordinary
duct tape. It was also available in black, and I think yellow. There was a lot
of this stuff just lying around, waiting for something useful to be done with
it.
I don't remember what my inspiration was for my wallet. I recall being on the
tour bus, and simply began to cut and fold the tape into a wallet. To do it for
the first time is sort of a puzzle, as you have no instructions to go by. I was
pleased with my new wallet as it came out rather well. I decided to make another
one which I think was yellow. I may have shown my first wallet to Matt Cameron,
then the drummer of Soundgarden, as I decided to give him my second one. I
replaced my old Nylon wallet with my new duct tape version, and have never
looked back. From time to time I would have to make a new one as the old one
wore out. If I recall correctly, all this happened before all the duct tape
books came out, but the one thing I'm sure of is that I figured it out for
myself.
Fast forward to 1996. I had become a big Soundgarden fan, and remained friends
with Kim Thayil after the tour was over. Kim was the best man at my wedding in
2000. A
Rolling Stone magazine article about Soundgarden's new record Down
on the Upside appeared. The article opens with an intimate description of
how Chris Cornell makes a new duct tape wallet each time he records a new
Soundgarden album! Looks like Matt Cameron taught Cornell the wallet thing! This
got to me enough that I even asked Kim about it, and indeed Kim told Cornell
that the idea originally came from me. I suspect, but do not know, that this
Rolling Stone article was the real "break" as far as publicity goes for the duct
tape wallet. During the late 1990's I would see duct tape wallets around, and
even saw them for sale on the Internet!
In October of 2002, I believe, I "invented" the polypropylene tape wallet.
Polypropylene is even superior to the gaffer tape, as the adhesive is stronger,
and there is no "grain" or weave to split along. The tape I'm talking about is
the kind used in conjunction with Tyvek vapor barrier house wrap. The
Polypropylene film is incredibly strong, especially considering how thin it is.
It's much thinner than duct or gaffer tape. The adhesive is an acrylic, and is
very "tacky". This quality is needed to allow it to stick to Tyvek, which is
itself quite slick. Tyvek vapor barrier and the associated tape are made by Du
Pont, but Lowe's Home Center makes a house brand that is comparable. Owens
Corning makes a pink polypropylene tape. Thankfully, Owens Corning doesn't
insist on plastering their logo on their tape like Du Pont and Lowe's do. Plain
pink is good. Remember the Pink Panther? Look for the Pink Panther logo when
buying your polypropylene vapor barrier tape!
This tape can be also be used in conjunction with ordinary Tyvek to make form
fitting credit card envelope protectors.
Now, go forth and make your own wallets and credit card protectors!