Shorting and Isolating pins - supplies

I don’t see a good reference for polyimide/Kapton tape spec to use when isolating pins.


For Isolating (blocking):

Is it better to use a thin (1 mil) tape? A common (2.5 mil to 3 mil) tape? Or a thicker (6 mil) tape? I see all three available as polyimide film tapes with heat-resistant adhesive.


For Shorting (connecting):

I’ve seen talk of tin shorts and heard of graphite shorts (via soft pencil), but the preferred approach seems to be a silver-based conductive pen. Is that correct?