Product Review - Glue

Good day, paper loving peeps! I thought I'd do a another product review for you today. If you know me personally, or if you have followed the Blog for a while, or if you have read any of my rants on social media, you know I HATE glue. I hate how it gets on your fingers, how it makes the paper buckle, how it never sticks. Glue is my kryptonite. You should also know I have a cabinet in the studio FILLED with glue! I am always on the hunt for glue that works well and does not cost too much! A few years ago, I wrote a funny (to me) post about glue. If you want to read it, click HERE.

Anyway...a few years ago, I attended a class where the instructor gave us the Ranger Multi Medium, Matte adhesive to use. I really liked how it stuck things together, it dried clear, and was super sticky and had a quick dry time, but not too quick. There was a bit of time to re-position things before the glue "grabbed." I thought I found THE GLUE for me!

The downside is these tiny bottles (1/2 ounce) are over $3.00 each, more if you buy locally! I go through them pretty fast! The other HUGE downside is that the tip gets clogged up ALL THE TIME. I even put an applicator tip on the bottle and it not only clogged the tip, but leaked out all around the tip! I stuck a long pin in there and it glued the pin to the nozzle! 

Plus, this glue is so thick, that it's hard to get out of the bottle unless the bottle is pretty full. I feel like I am always wasting glue! Still, I love this glue, but it is frustrating that I always have to open a new bottle when I am in a crafting whirlwind! Who has time to stop and fuss with clogged glue?!!

Well, I had to buy some glue use in a workshop, and I did not want to spend $3 a person on glue! During this great glue search, I needed to spend a few more dollars to get free shipping at Dick Blick, so I took a risk on this Blick Essentials White Glue from Dick Blick.

The 4 ounce size was only  98 cents each! So I purchased a bunch of bottles thinking four ounces was tiny...well, yeah, it's not tiny...

You can see the difference between the 4 ounce bottle of Blick Essentials and the 1/2 ounce size bottles of Ranger Multi Medium! (Why did I think 4 ounces was a small bottle?!?) My next thought was, well this must be a school grade glue, and it's probably garbage, and I just purchased 6 bottles of it! Six bottles of school glue when our homeschool days ended a year ago, and our white glue school days ended a decade ago! Yay, me, not.

Well, I used the Blick Essentials to put together a mini album the other day. I used it where I NEVER, EVER use wet glue, just to see how it would behave. (I have 6 bottles of it, people!) It is a super sticky and thick glue, and has a fast-but-not-too-fast dry time. It did not make my paper or cardstock buckle, which is always a sign of too much water in the glue. It also DRIED CLEAR, which is a false claim of many glues! But this one really did dry clear with no shiny residue! That is a major win for glue!  

So far, the project seems to be holding up very well. I was shocked and surprised that a "cheap-o" glue would perform so well. Another plus is that the tip has not clogged...yet. 

The only downside is that the glue is very thick and sticky, which means you have to squeeze the bottle a bit to get it going. I found that if I warmed the bottle up a bit in my hands, the glue flowed a bit better. I fear that, as the bottle gets emptier, it will get harder and harder to squeeze the glue out. But for 98 cents for 4 ounces...I am willing to keep using it...for now!

Stay tuned...I am sure the Great Glue Debate is far from over...