Craft and art can be messy activities, especially with children involved! Mix that with glue, and you can be in for a real messy ‘treat’!
There are a few simple tricks that can make crafting with glue less messy. The type of glue used can cause more (or less) mess than others:
- Use not so messy glue – This is usually in the form of tapes and other sticky, non messy adhesives. We sometimes use double sided tape for this reason, and to help the project have less glue mess on it too.
- Use a glue stick – If the project involves gluing paper to paper, a glue stick can be a less messy glue option.
- Use a small tipped glue bottle for liquid glue – The bigger the tip on the end of a glue bottle, the more glue can ooze out, and the more mess it can make.
With most glue you will need to protect your work surface.
For years we used to spread out loose pieces of paper over our table, only to have them end up on the floor and all over the place because they were easily shifted, or they would be blown off the work surface. However, a little while ago, we discovered a very simple solution to the problem. Junk mail! (Also known as ‘advertising material’.)
That’s right! Most of the time junk mail ends up in the bin, but here is a way to use it before it ends up there, and it will also help to make less mess with glue! If you don’t have junk mail, old telephone books and other scrap paper can be used instead.
- All you need to do is grab one multipage piece of junk mail – we use the glossy junk mail, and if using liquid glue, thick pages work better.
- Open the junk mail to the first double page and lay it flat on the table or work surface.
- Place the item to be glued on top of the junk mail.
- Spread glue on the item and position it into place.
- If there is a section on the two junk mail pages free from glue, place the next item there and repeat step 4.
- When both pages of the junk mail have glue on them, turn the page, so that you have two new unglued pages. The glue will now be contained inside the previous pages, and will stop the glue from accidentally sticking to the table or the project you are working on.
- Once you have finished gluing or used all the pages in the junk mail, place the junk mail in the recycling bin if you have one, or put it in the garbage.
Easy!
We hope you have fun with your next craft or art project, and in the process make less mess with glue!
And… if you are little intrigued as to what Annie is making in these photos, come back soon and you will see or have a guess in the comments!
