This probably comes too late for you, but maybe others would find it useful. I wanted olive handlebar tape for my
newly acquired Motobecane, but could not find any. Colour theory-based logic suggested that covering standard
green tape with amber shellac should produce olive green, so we decided to give that a try; worst case scenario
is that we'd waste a $5 roll of tape. Happily, the experiment worked. Here are the results:
This gives a pretty accurate idea of what the standard green tape looks like. Very Christmasy.
This is what the tape looks like after 1 coat of amber shellac has been freshly applied. The colour immediately
turns a dark deep olive, resembling the traditional colour of oilcloth products. This was the look I was hoping for.
However, note that the shellac is wet at this point and has not yet been absorbed by the tape.
And this is what the colour looks like after 1 coat of shellac has been completely absorbed by the tape and dried.
It is a colour midway between dark forest green and olive green. With additional appications of amber shellac,
the dry colour begins to look like the wet colour in the 2nd photo.