Caper:
Just hazarding a guess here...probably far off.
I remember working with a kind of insulating tape years ago when making splices(may still be available, for all I know) which came in two parts. The first part was a kind of rubber material which had some type of peel-off backing, for wrapping directly around the spliced conductors. The second part was a fabric-like material impregnated with something that would allow it to stick to itself, which was wrapped over the rubber layer.

O.K., remember we're ladies and gentlemen here... [Linked Image]

Mike (mamills)