Glue Stick Review

Last week I had occassion to do a little collage work on a road trip. While I am a die hard fan of Liquitex matte gel medium for a collage adhesive, it is a little messy for working on your lap in a moving vehicle. So, on the road, for ease and convenience, I opt to use a glue stick when doing collage work. Then later I can give it all a coat with my matte gel medium if needed.

Besides being handy to take along, and tidy to use, glue sticks are also repositionable for a little bit, making placement of your pieces a little more forgiving. Papers go on smooth without wrinkling, and they also bond fairly securely and permantly when dry, an important feature when creating artwork!

But which glue stick is the best?

I thought I would give a little review of three of the popular glue sticks out there and what I think about them.

• Probably one of the most widely used glue sticks is the good ol’ Elmer’s School Glue stick. The Elmer’s Company has been making things stick for the last 65 years, so it stands to reason that they would be pretty good at what they do by now. These are the glue sticks that my children used in school. They are inexpensive, especially this time of year when all the stores are having back to school sales on their school supplies. The Walmart I stopped at enroute had them for 97 cents. They are both non toxic, and acid free. They glide on smoothly without shedding clumps, and can even hold a bit heavier collage papers, like cardboard with ease. There are some variations, like a larger one good for bigger projects, and a purple one that dries clear. While that can have some advantages, like seeing exactly where you have glued, it just doesn’t feel right to me to be smearing purple on my artwork. I am also a bit unclear about what the difference is in the clear version, since the regular glue stick also dries clear as near as I can tell. Anyone else have insight on that? If you notice in the photo, I use the washable version, as it is indeed easy to wipe away glue that got anywhere you didn’t want it.
• Scotch is another trustworthy brand for sticking things together. On last weeks’ trip, I was running low on the glue stick I brought along, so decided to try out the Scotch glue stick that’s advertising point was that it was ‘wrinkle free’. It claimed to go on without the clumps and bumps that sometimes cause wrinkles, especially on thinner papers. I would say their claims are true, but wasn’t so wild about the stringy stickiness while using it. I like something a slight bit more firm… more of a chapstick consistency. However the results when gluing lightweight papers were great, and that is what really matters the most! That is one of the areas that glue sticks in general out preform my beloved matte gel medium! Like Elmer’s, Scotch has a variety of types of glue sticks, including a repositionable one that I have not yet tried.
• The Avery glue stick (not pictured) is super easy to use, and is one that I have used a fair bit in various projects with good results. It dries fairly quickly, and if you are a messy gluer, dries nearly invisible. They are available in both permanent and restickable options, but I have only used the permanent. They also come in a couple of different sizes which is handy if you are working on a larger project. It is often on sale is the office or school supply section during back to school sales, so be watching for it soon!
• Another poplular glue stick for collage artists and crafters is the UHU glue stick. They are slightly more expensive, but I have always been happy with the results. I used these back in my scrapbooking days, and after 20 or so years, the photos are still sticking and there has been no discoloration. They give you a strong, durable bond whether you’re working on your photos, or a collage project.   They also have a screw on lid that keeps the glue stick from drying out even after sitting neglected for awhile. I do however tend to forget which side is the lid and waste a few microseconds getting that sorted out. The UHUs are washable, contain no acid and are toxins free. Somehow I feel more legit when using the UHU to do collage art that when I use Elmer’s School glue. Like one is for grown ups and ‘serious’ business, and the other for kids. Am I a glue stick snob?

Truth is, you can’t really go wrong with any of these! They are all acid free, and have a decent longevity. As you may have noticed, the links to each of these are for multi packs because you can go through alot of glue sticks quickly! Which do I recommend? All of the above!

Do you have a preference?

I had fun exploring a Charley Harper “minimal realism” style bluejay collage. I am itching to do some more collage projects….