Does glue stick glue melt if you heat it? Like an office glue stick.
December 23, 2024 3:41 PM Subscribe
I cannot google this because I keep getting hits about hot glue/glue guns. If I use glue from a glue stick and stick two pieces of tissue paper together and then iron the tissue paper, will the glue melt and thin/spread?
I want to take two pieces of tissue paper and glue them together to make one slightly thicker piece of tissue paper. They must be glued together fully (i.e. not just spot glued or glued along the edges). And it should still look nice. Just like a two-sided piece of tissue paper. I want to do this tonight without leaving the house to buy fancy supplies or spending a tonne of money. I was thinking rubbing one sheet down in glue stick, sticking the other sheet on and then ironing it (with a clothes iron) to kind of melt/spread the glue and smooth out any lumpiness, etc.
Will that work?
I want to take two pieces of tissue paper and glue them together to make one slightly thicker piece of tissue paper. They must be glued together fully (i.e. not just spot glued or glued along the edges). And it should still look nice. Just like a two-sided piece of tissue paper. I want to do this tonight without leaving the house to buy fancy supplies or spending a tonne of money. I was thinking rubbing one sheet down in glue stick, sticking the other sheet on and then ironing it (with a clothes iron) to kind of melt/spread the glue and smooth out any lumpiness, etc.
Will that work?
I think it will be really hard to use a glue stick on tissue paper at all, it's really likely to tear. Is this a project you could run to the store for? Spray glue would be the best tool for the job, I believe.
posted by rachaelfaith at 4:33 PM on December 23 [10 favorites]
posted by rachaelfaith at 4:33 PM on December 23 [10 favorites]
I searched for this using the term "Pritt stick" which is a popular glue stick brand here in the UK.
It seems you can do this!
I found an Amazon review which said :
Sewing people also sometimes use spray glue or spray-baste (2 ways of referring to the same thing). That might be another way to get the even coating you want.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:35 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
It seems you can do this!
I found an Amazon review which said :
"I use it on fine tissue dressmaking patterns to repair tears or when I'm adding extra pieces when size-grading or altering a design as it can be ironed dry and flat without burning, melting or ruining the iron."The Great Pattern Review has a thread, "is it safe to use glue sticks and then sew?" which has the comment:
Make sure the glue is dry before you sew. Pressing lightly with a warm iron will speed up the drying process.So from this plus a few other hits, it seems the iron will dry the stick-glue, not melt it. Make sure you use no steam, of course.
Sewing people also sometimes use spray glue or spray-baste (2 ways of referring to the same thing). That might be another way to get the even coating you want.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:35 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
I also do not think that is going to work the way you want. What is the end-use? Are you wanting to use it as wrapping paper? I have arts and crafts experience that can advise but I kinda need to know what your goal here is.
That said, your best bet is to use a papier-mache technique, which requires significant drying time and liquid starch (laundry, not corn), or watered down white glue.
Any way about it, the resulting product will be stiff, and not rustly like tissue paper because you are fundamentally changing it.
If you want to try something with your iron anyway, please do future-you a favor and lay a sheet of parchment as a barrier between the iron surface and the tissue paper. And the project/table, for that matter.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:36 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
That said, your best bet is to use a papier-mache technique, which requires significant drying time and liquid starch (laundry, not corn), or watered down white glue.
Any way about it, the resulting product will be stiff, and not rustly like tissue paper because you are fundamentally changing it.
If you want to try something with your iron anyway, please do future-you a favor and lay a sheet of parchment as a barrier between the iron surface and the tissue paper. And the project/table, for that matter.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:36 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I want to print on it (with my printer). I would either run one sheet through the printer before gluing or do it after tenure glued together. I will have extra for trial and error.
I have orinted on tissue paper before by taping it to a regular sheet of printer paper before running it through the printer.
But the mention of sewing patterns reminds me that i have some spray glue for sewing but is temporary. Meant to hold patterns down but be repositionable and also be able to then remove without issue.
I will not have time to go to a store.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:52 PM on December 23
I have orinted on tissue paper before by taping it to a regular sheet of printer paper before running it through the printer.
But the mention of sewing patterns reminds me that i have some spray glue for sewing but is temporary. Meant to hold patterns down but be repositionable and also be able to then remove without issue.
I will not have time to go to a store.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:52 PM on December 23
Consider using a piece of baking parchment paper as an intermediate to apply glue and heat to transfer between adhesions.
posted by effluvia at 4:53 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
posted by effluvia at 4:53 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
Inkjet or Laser printer?
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:54 PM on December 23
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:54 PM on December 23
Response by poster: Essentially i am trying to make a beautiful,delicate, magical piece of stationery such as Santa might use to leave a note for a child who had fallen asleep at the foot of the Christmad tree, hoping to catch him.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:55 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:55 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
That's a lovely idea and thought, reminiscent of the little liner sheets in fancy cards and books.
Since you have a unknown variety of arts and crafts supplies, here's some suggestions that might also work, if you have them around:
- Vellum
- Onionskin paper
- high-linen resume paper
They often use sturdier tissue paper in packing things, and for stuffing into items that need to maintain their shape (like shoes and purses). Smoothing and ironing a piece of that might be easier?
posted by ApathyGirl at 5:06 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
Since you have a unknown variety of arts and crafts supplies, here's some suggestions that might also work, if you have them around:
- Vellum
- Onionskin paper
- high-linen resume paper
They often use sturdier tissue paper in packing things, and for stuffing into items that need to maintain their shape (like shoes and purses). Smoothing and ironing a piece of that might be easier?
posted by ApathyGirl at 5:06 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Ok Instacart brought the fancy backing tissue paper but the white tissue paper. Then i realizedm.m.i have wax paper...and wax definitely melts. I'll experiment after the recipient goes to bed.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:08 PM on December 23
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:08 PM on December 23
I have a lot of experience with various adhesives, being in the graphic arts area. I believe the paper would tear. Also, you would not be able to get a clean smooth layer of melted glue between the sheets. I think the heat would melt the glue, but in a uneven messy way. Ideally I would use spray adhesive...maybe even rubber cement on both sides and let dry then layer together. But the tissue paper might wrinkle with the rubber cement.
posted by Czjewel at 5:22 PM on December 23
posted by Czjewel at 5:22 PM on December 23
Ok Instacart brought the fancy backing tissue paper but the white tissue paper. Then i realizedm.m.i have wax paper...and wax definitely melts. I'll experiment after the recipient goes to bed.
If you want to sandwich colored bits of tissue paper between the wax paper and heat with the iron, there's some really cool things you can do with crayons, glitter/sparkly dust, too.
If not the iron, when I was little we used an electric griddle on low heat to draw with crayons, sprinkle with glitter, then put paper on top. (like of like embossing for preschoolers).
posted by ApathyGirl at 5:34 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
If you want to sandwich colored bits of tissue paper between the wax paper and heat with the iron, there's some really cool things you can do with crayons, glitter/sparkly dust, too.
If not the iron, when I was little we used an electric griddle on low heat to draw with crayons, sprinkle with glitter, then put paper on top. (like of like embossing for preschoolers).
posted by ApathyGirl at 5:34 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
I think you should go back to your "taping it to a regular sheet of printer paper before running it through the printer" method.
The glue stick is likely to tear the tissue paper, though you could warm it up a bit to make it glide a little more easily. Laying the second piece on top of it once successfully glue stick'd is bound to leave wrinkles that would be baked in by the iron. And I think the ironing might leave the tissue paper crunchy — but maybe that's not a bad thing?
Do you have slightly more robust paper that you could tea or coffee dye for a similar effect?
posted by feistycakes at 5:58 PM on December 23
The glue stick is likely to tear the tissue paper, though you could warm it up a bit to make it glide a little more easily. Laying the second piece on top of it once successfully glue stick'd is bound to leave wrinkles that would be baked in by the iron. And I think the ironing might leave the tissue paper crunchy — but maybe that's not a bad thing?
Do you have slightly more robust paper that you could tea or coffee dye for a similar effect?
posted by feistycakes at 5:58 PM on December 23
I am not an expert on anything, but in my job I use a surprising amount of glue, tissue paper, and I print things all the time. I think this is highly unlikely to work out in any capacity. You may be able to glue the two pieces of tissue paper together. I assume you're going to cover them in something then iron it? It seems to me that this where it will fall apart, if it hasn't already. IF you get to the point where you put it through the printer, I am almost certain that the printer will tear tissue paper to shreds, even slightly thicker tissue paper. And if there's glue involved, even dried glue, that could be a disaster for your printer.
However, I would be pleasantly surprised if I were proven wrong, so please experiment and report back.
posted by Amy93 at 6:45 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
However, I would be pleasantly surprised if I were proven wrong, so please experiment and report back.
posted by Amy93 at 6:45 PM on December 23 [1 favorite]
If you want to go for a rustic look and your printer includes a scanner, I would scan a piece of tissue paper. You can scan it onto both sides. Then Santa can write the letter on regular paper that appears to be tissue paper. Unsure how well this will work in practice, but anecdotally I once tried scanning my cat and the results were astonishingly detailed. Good luck!
posted by Amy93 at 6:51 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
posted by Amy93 at 6:51 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Ok, I've done some experimenting. I've printed on wax paper before for a previous project, so I knew I could do that. What I forgot/didn't think of, was that that was a project using wax paper to transfer, not meant to stay on the wax paper. So on that occasion I printed on the waxy side, but this time I wanted the waxy side in, so I printed on the other side. Ok, ink doesn't stick at all to the other side. It's so light it's practically transparent and rubs off/beads/etc. with the slightest motion or touch.
OK, so take two required migrating my note to In-Design so I could mirror the print (it seems I don't have printer setting to do this). OK, so mirrored the text and printed on the waxy-side. Much darker. Nicer. Clearer. But it's still pretty wet and pressed against the (metallic, and thus also not very absorbant), it ends up quite blurry.
However, the wax paper DOES iron on to the metallic tissue paper, fine. Well...fine-ish. I expected there would be some danger of a big ugly wrinkle getting ironed in. That didn't really happen, but there are a lot of little parallel ripple like wrinkles that end up being air between the two layers which looks kind of bad. I'm not sure if awareness of this problem could prevent on subsequent attempts.
I think I first need to solve the problem of clear printing/text transfer. One possibility is to use the non-metallic fancy tissue paper as backing, but the metallic is red on the fancy side and silver on the side that would end up with the printing and it really would be pretty if it worked.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:03 PM on December 23
OK, so take two required migrating my note to In-Design so I could mirror the print (it seems I don't have printer setting to do this). OK, so mirrored the text and printed on the waxy-side. Much darker. Nicer. Clearer. But it's still pretty wet and pressed against the (metallic, and thus also not very absorbant), it ends up quite blurry.
However, the wax paper DOES iron on to the metallic tissue paper, fine. Well...fine-ish. I expected there would be some danger of a big ugly wrinkle getting ironed in. That didn't really happen, but there are a lot of little parallel ripple like wrinkles that end up being air between the two layers which looks kind of bad. I'm not sure if awareness of this problem could prevent on subsequent attempts.
I think I first need to solve the problem of clear printing/text transfer. One possibility is to use the non-metallic fancy tissue paper as backing, but the metallic is red on the fancy side and silver on the side that would end up with the printing and it really would be pretty if it worked.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:03 PM on December 23
Can you wax-paper iron transfer your image to the tíssue? You can rub your glue stick in a dish of water to make a much thinner glue that can be sprayed or brushed on, or laid in a shallow pan to soak one side and then combine your sheets. It’s basically going to be the same as Elmer’s, wooodglue or any other pva glue, so water that first if you have it. Could you just stiffen the single layer of paper by wetting and drying it so it contracts a little or with iron on sewing backing or spray starch or similar?
posted by Iteki at 2:06 AM on December 24
posted by Iteki at 2:06 AM on December 24
Chine-collé might be a useful search term, it's what printmakers call it when they adhere an image on very thin paper to a heavier paper. Usually uses a press but there are ways to do it without. And I think you can diy wheat paste as an adhesive
posted by sepviva at 2:39 AM on December 24
posted by sepviva at 2:39 AM on December 24
Best answer: For the original question- heated-up glue stick will not -spread- to any useful/ significant degree. I’m saying this from direct experience of laminating items with glue stick and heating in a dry-mount press.
posted by janell at 11:08 AM on December 24
posted by janell at 11:08 AM on December 24
Response by poster: OK, well I think I accomplished the required task by glueing the two tissue papers (oh yeah, I didn't get the white tissue paper, but I had some gold non-mettallic tissue paper) together with the glue stick (no ironing required), then taped the new paper to a regular sheet of paper and then ran the whole thing through the printer. Also effective was glueing the two sheets of tissue paper togther using a thin layer of modpodge applied with a kleenex. Note that both the glue stick and modpodge spreading work because the one tissue paper is metallic so not the kind that tears quite the same way as the regular paper kind.
And of course, my son changed his mind about staying up to wait for Santa.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:12 PM on December 24 [1 favorite]
And of course, my son changed his mind about staying up to wait for Santa.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:12 PM on December 24 [1 favorite]
Oh, man. I was totally thinking about Modge Podge when I talked about using liquid laundry starch!
posted by ApathyGirl at 9:23 AM on December 26
posted by ApathyGirl at 9:23 AM on December 26
For future reference: a glue stick was included with my recently-purchased 3d printer because it helps with print bed adhesion for the first layer of the print. Given that the plastic is at over 200C when it is being printed, it seems like it would've been good for the job at hand :)
posted by clicking the 'Post Comment' button at 11:05 AM on December 26
posted by clicking the 'Post Comment' button at 11:05 AM on December 26
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(I'm doubtful that the glue is gonna melt as evenly as you want it to, and I also think because tissue paper is very thin it's likely it's gonna rip, or glue is gonna seep out in ugly ways.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:17 PM on December 23 [2 favorites]