Adhesive 101

A good adhesive is like a good stage crew—when it’s working well, you hardly notice it at all. But choosing a good adhesive can be difficult—even more difficult than finding a competent stage crew. Sarah Boddington, a Director from Horseshoe Valley, Ontario, once came face-to-face with this sticky problem. She was in a scrapbooking store when she overheard a woman ask a sales clerk about the numerous adhesive options available. The clerk implied that all adhesives were created equal and suggested several very different products. Luckily for this confused woman, Sarah was on the scene. After the clerk left, she quickly stepped in and pointed the shopper in the right direction, explaining the benefits of some of her favorite adhesives. But what makes one adhesive different from another?

Adhesives have been around for over 6,000 years—and some adhesive bonds have lasted that long! Prehistoric man used natural glues, like saps and plant resins, as adhesives to repair broken pottery. Adhesives have been used in everything from the construction of King Tut’s tomb to the watertight seals on Native American canoes. Some historical figures even owe their fame and success to the strength of adhesives; take, for example, Antonio Stradivari the famous violin maker, who developed a permanent adhesive to use as the laminate on his perfect violins. The formula for this incredible adhesive has been lost and can’t be recovered even with modern technology. Fortunately, adhesives have come a long way in the last 100 years. Today, adhesives are a multi-billion dollar industry with over 750 adhesive companies competing for your business—no wonder it is a confusing process to select a good adhesive! We are in the business of preserving memories, so of course we want our adhesive bonds to last as long as possible. But we want more than that! We want adhesives that are acid free, that will do their job without being seen, and that won’t cost us an arm and a leg!

Luckily, Close To My Heart has adhesives that will meet all of these criteria. Let’s take a look at seven of the adhesives offered by Close To My Heart, keeping in mind that all are acid free, affordable, and most dry clear. With such an incredible offering right at our fingertips, who needs Stradivaris’ lost formula?

Liquid Glass

Strengths: Extremely strong, permanent, clear, inexpensive, versatile—can be used as a glue, a glaze, or an accent, and it will stick to almost anything.

Considerations: Can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 48 hours to dry, depending on how much is used. Unique gloss effect can alter appearance of ink colors. Add tiny dots of Liquid Glass on a stamped leaf image to look like dew. Completely cover a black bat stamped image to look glossy & shiny. Great for attaching buttons, our chipboard Dimensional Elements…anything bulky or heavy to cards & layouts.

Tips: - Liquid Glass is often thought of as an “embellishment” because it makes things glossy & pretty. For me…I use it 90% of the time as an adhesive. There’s always a bottle sitting on my desk. When not using bottle… store on its side or upside down.

Bonding Memories® Glue

Strengths: This is my “go-to” glue Permanent or repositionable, easy to hold, inexpensive, lasts for a long time, comes out blue & dries clear! Dries quickly. Best for “paper to paper” applications. For example, when positioning your patterned papers on your base layout cardstock use Bonding Memories. Your paper can easily be “scooted” into place or lifted if you need to reposition. You might have a photo mat that you want to glue down on a page (that’s paper to paper). Bonding Memories is the glue. I love how the big nib top still can get into little places where glue needs to be added. I keep extras around just so I never run out.

Considerations: Use only a small amount and apply in “dots” not long lines.

Excess glue may cause papers to bubble.

Tips: To use glue the first time, remove cellophane. Place tip down on scratch paper. Gently pump tip depressing it lightly. Keep doing this and you’ll see the tip gradually turn blue. Store upright with clear cover snapped on tight.

3-D Foam Tape

Strengths: Strong hold, adds dimension to layouts & cards. Two sizes included in package- 3/8” & ¼” . Each roll is 75” long.

Considerations: Use scissor to cut exact size of tape that you need.

Tips: When adding My Stickease to a project “de-stick” the back of the image with baby powder. Then add 3-D Foam tape and attach.

Memory Book Glue Dots®

Strengths: Strong hold, thin, available in two different sizes, sticks to almost everything.

Considerations: Requires individual application. Whatever you want to add a Glue Dot to simply touch the item to the Glue Dot & pull away. Glue Dot will attach itself. So easy!

Tips: These work especially well with unique embellishments like metal accents or ribbon.

Storage tip- remove roll of Glue Dots from box. Tie a green ribbon around roll from green box to keep it from unrolling. Tie a blue ribbon around the Glue Dots from the blue box. As you need a dot simply slide the ribbon away from the next available dot & press item on exposed dot. You’ll never worry about your Glue Dots becoming tangled in your tackle box again.

Bonding Memories® Glue Pen

Strengths: Permanent or repositionable, easy to hold, inexpensive, lasts for a long time, dries quickly, easy to use in small areas.

Considerations: Works best in small amounts in small spaces.

Tips: Use the glue pen to secure corners of paper.

** see info above on Bonding Memories Glue. The Glue Pen is simply a scaled down version of the Bonding Memories Glue with a smaller chisel tip & smaller amount of glue.

Tombow® Mono® Adhesive

Strengths: Quick and easy to apply, no drying time, permanent, easy to refill.

Considerations: May be best used for small applications. Press firmly to avoid breaks in adhesive strip.

Tips: Tombow is my “go to adhesive” for attaching photos to layouts. I apply a 1”-2” length of adhesive to each corner of the back of the photo, position on layout & press firmly.

“Liquid Glass would be my desert island choice if I could only take one adhesive.”

—Faith Richardson, Manager, Yakima,Washington

“With a variety of sizes and thicknesses, Glue Dots® are my first choice every time; I have been using them for years for that exact assurance.”—Pam Klassen, Director, Chilliwack, British Columbia

“I grab the glue pen when I have corners to adhere that my Tombow is too thick to get to, or if I’m using glitter and need it for outlining a stamped

image.” —Janene Wawro,Director, Denton, Texas

“3-D Foam Tape is especially helpful when you want to draw attention to

any kind of focal point on a card or a scrapbook page.”—Anna Palmer, Director, Springville, Utah

original article appeared in Keynotes November/December 2008 Issue

edited & updated by Sue Laufer/Director Kailua HI  August 2010