Crafts Unleashed

Get to know your adhesives

Today I wanted to do some comparisons of various adhesives for paper crafting.  Adhesives are essential for the paper crafter and without them nothing would stick!  There are so many adhesives used in paper crafting for so many purposes and sometimes it can be confusing.  But ultimately adhesives really are a basic necessity for this craft.  I am going to compare 4 different adhesives in this post and talk a bit how each is used.

1.  Therm O Web Click ‘n Stick Mounting tabs- These are great little sticky tabs that I tried on a variety of surfaces.  I used these on cardstock, patterned paper, photos, and chipboard.   I had great success on all of the paper items with the exception of the chipboard.  The chipboard was too fiberous and although it held, I could pull it off easily.  So I think I would stick to more liquid adhesives for chipboard.

Next  I tried mounting tabs on several surfaces including wood, metal, and plastic.  I had excellent success on wood and metal.  Plastic held well, but I could still peel it off.  I think I would use it on plastic as long as the humidity level was not very high.  Overally I love this product for a variety of uses, especially mounting my photos.  It has a good strong stick for many paper crafting applications.

2.  Therm O Web Zots, small-   Small Zots are little flat gummy sticky dots.  They are really different from most adhesives you will find.  There are many uses for Zots (they come in small, medium, large and strips) which not only include use on papers, cardstocks, and photos, but also for use on embellishments.  This includes fabric, metal, plastic, and many others.  I have been a long time Zot user and I have to tell you that I not only use them for paper crafting but all around my house!  They stick well to a wide variety of surfaces such as wood, metal, plastic, chipboard, paper, cardstock, etc.  My favorite use for small Zots is attaching buttons to my layouts, cards, and altered items!

3.  Leeho Glue sticks- I will be honest that I rarely use glue sticks in my paper crafting work.  Not because I do not like them but I have found that they do not always stick well for me.  Plus I feel limited by the different mediums I can use them on.  I normally stick to paper, cardstock, and chipboard.  So I decided to stick to testing this particular glue stick on the items I normally use glue sticks for.  I can say that it worked well on all 3 surfaces.  It stuck, dried without wrinkling, and seemed like a fairly tight hold.  The only answer that I cannot tell you is if this will hold over time. I have had some issues with glue sticks years later drying and chipping, but I cannot tell you if this one will or will not chip or flake over time.

4.  Crafter’s Pick Memory Mount liquid glue- This is a product that I have never tried before.  I decided to try it on two different surface types so I used a fiberous textured cardstock and a slick textured cardstock.  I did not have any issues with it sticking to the fiberous cardstock.  When I tried it on the slick cardstock I was able to peel it off once it was dry.  I had to tug a bit first but then it did peel off.  So I think I would stick to using it on fiberous materials.  Some of the things I really like about this adhesive would be the fact that it is archival quality, acid free and non caustic.

There are many more adhesives available for use in paper crafting.  This is a sampling of adhesives available through Consumer Crafts.  I encourage you to read the information above that then choose your adhesives based on what type of paper crafting you do the most frequently.  Happy crafting!

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