Saturday, February 11, 2012

Homemade Glue


UPDATE: I've added an extra ingredient to my glue recipe -- liquid starch -- to act as a hardener and binding agent. The previous recipe worked fine, and I was adding the starch to my paper clay directly, but chose instead to put it in the glue since the glue will also be used in pastes.

Since paper mache is one of my favorite mediums (along with Monster Mud) I'm always looking to improve on the technique. I've progressed (regressed) from using white glue and water to glue-flour-water to what I like to call "pancake batter," which is nothing more than just flour and water.

With glue running upwards of $10 or more a gallon, the flour-water mixture is a heckuva lot cheaper and provides a just as durable bond. Recently I ran across a recipe for a paper clay that has the potential for doing away with the strip mache technique altogether.

Jonni Good (can her middle name please begin with a "B") of Ultimate Paper Mache has devised a clay recipe that can literally be painted onto forms and in layers as thin as 1/8" to 1/4" and which provides a shell every bit as durable as the layers of strip mache she previously used (she's been doing paper mache for 50 years!). You can check out her recipe here.

Yet one of the ingredients calls for white glue, which, as I mentioned before, is relatively expensive. So I set about to find an alternative that would serve the same purpose only at a cheaper price and came up with this recipe. It has just four five ingredients, all of which are likely in your pantry right now: flour, water, sugar, vinegar, and liquid starch (see my homemade liquid starch recipe here). Not really surprising I guess considering the paste I was making before, but in recipes that call for glue, I can now substitute this without feeling I'm betraying my inner cheap bastard. So here's an illustrated guide to making your own glue that should keep for months and months in a refrigerator.

Homemade Glue

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup liquid starch
  • 1-1/2 cups water
  • 1 tsp. vinegar


Ingredients: flour, sugar, water and vinegar

Mix the flour and sugar together in a saucepan.


 Add half the water and mix.




Mix till its relatively smooth in texture.


Add the rest of the water.


Mix until it has a smooth, creamy texture.


Combine the vinegar into the paste and mix.


Heat the mix until it starts to thicken.


I'd stop a short time before it starts to clump like this. You'll feel it start to thicken in the saucepan.


Allow the glue to cool and then store it in an air-tight container. I use a glass jar though I imagine a Tupperware container or similar vessel would suffice. Refrigerate.


In the new paper clay recipe it also calls for use of glycerin to replace the linseed oil it previously used. Glycerin is also relatively expensive and I wondered if I could make my own. Turns out you can make your own using lye, olive oil, sea salt, and a few other ingredients. It also turns out, you can no longer easily buy lye at your local supermarket because it's also a key ingredient in making meth. So it's now a controlled dangerous substance of sorts where suppliers have to keep careful records of who's buying it from them. Your local grocery store no longer carries it.

So I'll have to suck it up and use glycerin or opt for the original linseed oil. In the meantime, though, I've got a jar of glue for my paper mache projects.

19 comments:

  1. Great post, thanks for that! Will have to try it myself.

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  2. Cool post! Never tried making my own glue....thanks!

    Cheers!

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  3. Might have to try out this recipe. Thanks for the tip!

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  4. I ended up using the glue in my new paper clay recipe and the combination is terrific. You get a really smooth consistency like regular clay only at a fraction of the cost. I think it's a keeper!

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  5. Rich, I finally got around to trying your recipe, and all I can say is Wow! When I added it to my last experimental batch of paper mache clay, it came out fantastic. I think your glue is not just cheaper than Elmer's but it looks like it may actually be better when used in the paper mache clay recipe - at least in the new version that uses powdered clay for filler instead of flour. I'll post the results on my blog tomorrow, after the latest batch using your glue is dry. Then we can see if it's as strong as Elmer's-based paper mache clay. Right now, I've got to say that I'm seriously impressed.

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    Replies
    1. Jonni,

      Terrific! I'm glad your trials are bearing out the results I've achieved. I don't think I'd try to build a house with it, but for paper mache projects I believe it works great. I think you'll find it's every bit as durable as what you've been using previously.

      Thanks for updating me on your efforts and I look forward to reading your blog tomorrow.

      Rich

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  6. I would really like to try your recipe for the glue! One question, at what point do you add the liquid starch? I read the recipe twice, and I couldn't find it in the directions.
    I've been making paper mache clay for about a year and a half, ever since I discovered Jonni's page. I love it! I can't wait to use your glue in my next batch.
    Maggie

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    1. Maggie,

      Thanks for dropping by. At any point before you start heating the mixture you can add the liquid starch.

      Cheers,
      Rich

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  7. Hello Rich,
    Thank you for sharing your recipes! Your work is magnificent! Do you like Biscotti? I can share my recipe with you :)

    -----Take Care and Again Many Thanks- Dawn :)

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    Replies
    1. Dawn, my apologies for responding so late. Somehow I missed your post. So if your biscotti recipe is still handy I'd gladly take it off your hands. I love biscotti! Cheers!

      Rich

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  8. Just copying down your glue recipe..when do you add the liquid starch?
    would like to try it.

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    1. Anytime in the process is okay, but I typically add it in when I'm adding the rest of the water and vinegar. Hope it works out well for you!

      Rich

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  9. I made a big paper mache Topiary with a similar glue ....in two years weevils had eaten all the flour and even the newspaper and the ball collapsed.... Just be ware of the almost invisible monster called the weevil who loves FLOUR.

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  10. Lye is made from animal fat and ashes. The strongest is from the ashes of hardwood like fruit trees. It is very easy to make. Survivalists love to make lye soap and there are some pretty rugged You tube videos of how to make it. It is also dangerous to handle before it is fully hardened into soap.

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    Replies
    1. Leslie, thanks for the warning about weevils. Sounds like something out of the 1930's Dust Bowl era with boll weevils decimating cotton crops. Some people add a touch of bleach to their pastes to ward off mold so I wonder if that would help in fighting off weevils too. I haven't had a problem with either in my paper mache, but it's always good to be prepared.

      And thanks for the tip on making your own lye.

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  11. I wonder, about the weevils, I recently found out how to avoid the nasty buggers in flour that we use for cooking. When you buy the flour, freeze it in the freezer for a week (probably less time, but I like to be sure) and then when you bring it out, the eggs and any trace of the bugs is dead and gone, I have avoided the weevils for years now by simply freezing flour first. I have never had bugs in my flour I store in the cupboard after doing this. If you do this, possibly you would avoid the future destruction of art work by the evil little creatures. Just a thought!

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Adding a couple of Bay Leaves in flour keeps Bugs away!

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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