So the other day I was working on a project and I was using WAY too much of my tape runner. When working on bigger cards with large mats you do tend to use alot of tape. You also have to be sure it's right on the edge so the ends don't lift and heaven help you if you don't get it smooth the first time down. Ripping it up to reposition is a royal pain. So I headed for my glue stick bin and of course I have more than one brand so which one is going to work best? I need to adhere a 6x8 piece of designer paper to a paper lunch bag. I've tried liquid glues before and have had multiple problems. Besides being messy, depending on the glue you use it could cause bumps where the glue was placed. Or depending on the paper it could cause wrinkles. I therefore decided a glue stick was the way to go. But which one? One to never use in my opinion is the Children's School Glue stick. Sure its safe (non-toxic) but as soon as it dried you can peel off what you glued down sprinkling glue flakes as you do.
Here are the four I tried with my paper bag project (I'll share that in a later post...it's pretty cool).
The top stick is made by Scotch. It's permanent and glides on nicely. I did not have any wrinkling or bubbles and it did not take long to dry. Maybe 15min or so. It had a decent bond that I was happy with. The one on bottom left is by Avery. It too is permanent but I found it didn't have a long lasting hold. Maybe a week later you could tell that it was lifting around the edges of the large piece and on smaller pieces some completely fell off. No glue flake sprinkles tho. In the middle I have Elmer's Craft Bond. It would have been the brand I thought would work great but I was disappointed. By the time I finished adhering the glue to my 6x8 sheet it had already dried in some places and if I went back to re-glue the previously wet surface was now drying. It was a big race against the clock. A race I didn't like! It was a strong bond but not much different then the Scotch brand one. If I had to choose between the Elmer's and the Scotch I'd pick Scotch because of it's open work time. The last one on right is by Thermo-Web. Definitely holds but the glue in this stick is kind of soft making it a bit messy to use. Not easily accessible. I use to be able to get this at Archivers until they closed. I haven't seen it at my local craft stores recently so altho I love the hold it's not going to be my go to glue.
So my conclusion????? Personally I'd go with the Scotch Brand. Available at local craft stores, strong bond, glides nice, no wrinkling or bubbling. Do you have a favorite? Let me know so I can give it a try.
Well till later when I share my paper bag project!
HAPPY CARDING!!!
Sorry, I hate glue sticks. I did buy some for the kids to use but I find lots of problems with them. I hate that years down the road the project is hard and wants to crack apart and hate the stiff feeling to the cards. I hate the globs. Rank them right to the round file. :( Linda P
ReplyDelete