Materials Managed: How not to get stuck with PVA glue

Polyvinyl acetate glue, commonly known as white glue, is a staple in all art classes. There are dozens of brands of the stuff out there. But my favorite is Elmer's Glue-All. I've used a variety of different brands over the years but Elmer's always gives me the best results, whether I am using it to actually glue things or I'm making slime (see recipe below). Before I explore the care and feeding of PVA glues, I'm going off on a tangent and take a tour through the land of adhesives. One of the first things I teach my student are the properties of adhesives and when to use them. Like many people they value expedience over aesthetics. They want results RIGHT NOW and to hell with what it looks like. So they much prefer tape, staples, hot melt glue and cyanoacrylates (super glue) over PVA and rubber cement.

When to use what adhesive

Adhesive	Surface	Set time	Cure time	Pros	Cons
Rubber cement	paper	5 minutes	10 minutes	Fast set, no wrinkles, easy to clean up	Fire hazard
Cyanoacrylates	wood (particularly balsa), metal, ceramic, glass	seconds	seconds	Fast set	Brittle, will melt some materials, toxic, glues EVERYTHING including skin
PVA glue	plastics (including glitter, beads and acrylic gems), wood, fabric	1 hour	24 hours	Non-toxic, flexible, dried mostly clear	Will wrinkle paper
Hot melt glue	fabric, glass, ceramic	1 minute	5 minutes	Fast set	Easily broken; very hot
Spray adhesive	paper, fabric	2 minutes	5 minutes	Fast set	Overspray, aerosol
Glue Dots	paper, foam, plastic	None	None	Immediate gratification	Never cures, single point only
E6000	fabric, wood, stone, glass, metal, ceramic	20 minutes	24 to 72 hours	Very durable	Expensive
Wood glue	wood	1 hour	24 hours	Can be sanded and painted	Dries opaque
Glue stick	paper	15 seconds	none	Easy to use	Dries out

There are other options such as epoxy, polyurethane and silicone adhesive but they are messy and toxic so not appropriate for the classroom. OK, so now that we have some basis for identifying when to use what adhesive, let’s move on to the good stuff. Buy 4 ounce bottles of Elmer’s Glue (any variety will do, all you want is the bottle) when they are on sale at WalMart in the fall. Once a grading period, clean and refill the bottles. To clean the bottles you will need a nut cracker, a knife, a towel, some warm water and a jar of petroleum jelly. You can get both at Dollar Tree. The nut cracker makes it much easier to remove the caps that may have become “accidently” glued to the bottle. Scrape the dried glue from the shoulders and neck of the bottle and from inside the cap. If the cap won’t close properly, soak it in warm water until it is free again. Fill the bottle with glue. Smear the neck and inside the cap with petroleum jelly. This will help prevent that accidental gluing problem. If the caps are too badly damaged to use, replace them. Most glue bottles you buy have a 24-410 neck. I buy replacements at Midwest Bottles (www.midwestbottles.com) for 13 cents each. I buy glue by the gallon. Don’t bother with the glue pump. It always clogs and makes a bigger mess.