I know about the Harlequin Patter style that can be done using cotton tape, but is there a way to braid modern padded cork tape? A friend of mine said he has seen it done before, but I have been unable to find anything online. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm sure there are other patterns, but the one I'm familiar with uses two different tapes, one running in a right spiral and the other in a left hand spiral. Whenever they pass each other, you alternate the over-under to create a diamond weave effect. When finished it'll look sort of like the diamond weave lanyards kids make at summer camp.

It can take a short time to master, and you don't want to waste tape, so either try it leaving the adhesive protective paper on, or better yet buy 2 different color 3/4" ribbons and a length of electrical conduit or thin PVC pipe, and practice until you're comfortable with the technique. Then go to town on your bike.

Hmm... does this technique help with durability, I wonder...?

I've braided some other stuff, like suitcase handles. I could probably track down some instructions for that.
Trouble is:
- on the fairly tight turns of a modern drop bar you'll have a helluva trouble getting outside face coverage and avoiding inside face bunching.
- getting past the lever in style will take some doing.
- You'll have so many crossings that the end result will probably be like a double wrapped bar, which you may or may not appreciate.

Maybe there's a smaller size of foamy tape you can get for golf clubs or tennis raquets or something.

I harlequin wrap my bars using cloth tape. The process requires tightly folding back the tape to bring the other tape over. I don't think cork tape will hold up to the folding and refolding.

Also, it is hard to continue the harlequin pattern past the brake lever, so I usually wrap from the center down and from the end up, and meet at the levers. With cloth tape you can then put a strip of tape over the join and it looks nice. With cork tape, that would be too lumpy.

I suggest you simply wrap the bar with cork tape, in the usual spiral manner, then harlequin wrap cloth tape over that. I've done that on one bike and it looks nice, gives a bit of extra padding, and isn't overly thick.

It took me four hours to do my first harlequin wrap, so be patient and relaxed.