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Friday, May 30, 2014

Remembrances of Glues Past...

I think kids had more free time when I was little.

I was contemplating today's Mix-Ability challenge yesterday and since the challenge is to design with glue, I had a pleasant flashback to elementary school and the beginning of my love affair with glue.

I know that Elmer's Paste is too pedestrian a subject to conjure up Marcel Proust with, but the fact of the matter is that the smell of that paste can instantly transport me back to Sul Ross Elementary. That yummy, pepperminty scent, and the delightful, soft texture of it. I have zero memories of the projects we made with the paste, but I vividly remember the paste. I thought it was SO amazing learning you could STICK things to things. Sometimes when I pass the school supply aisle I'm tempted to buy it just for nostalgia's sake.

I remember in later grades graduating to "real" Elmer's glue. The white glue that I love to this day. It also has a strangely pleasant, if not edible smell.

I remember - please tell me I'm not the only one - discovering that if you got it all over your hand, you could peel it off in one big sheet, and how, for some reason, that was endlessly entertaining. I also remember doing this a LOT in school. We must have had some nice quiet time back then where we were not being badgered, if I can remember a lot of times where I had the luxury of putting glue on my fingers and letting it dry. I'm glad we did. When I started reading Nancy Drew, I noticed what perfect fingerprints it made, which might have led to my obsession with forensic science.

Now, I don't go a day without using glue - are there people who don't? People who have an old bottle of glue, unloved and dry in a drawer? I should set up an outreach. An evangelical organization to reveal the wonders of glue to people whose sad souls are glueless.

So Birgit's challenge spoke to the kid in me. I took my grown-up glue - Tombow Mono Multi - and just wrote "hi" on a piece of watercolor paper. (I orginially tried this with glossy cardstock and alcohol ink and I didn't like it.) I waited for it to dry (thank you Breaking Bad, for being there for me in moments like this) and then sprayed the paper with water and dropped Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence and Green Galore re-inkers on it. Then I let that dry overnight and cleaned the ink off the glue with a Q-tip®. The background was made with the Stylish Stripes embossing folder and added some sequins.


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Other than that, I've been busy making samples for the Unwind Retreat - you are going to love it! We are also giving away one of our helper aprons to a lucky winner - a zentangle apron, of course - handmade by the incredibly talented Melanie Hopes, the zentangle and sewing BOSS. :)



See you soon! :)


8 comments:

  1. Ha! The very first thing I thought of when you mentioned glue and elementary school was endlessly trying to see how big a glue print I could get off my palm!!! We did have more free time back then! I also remember an artist coming in and showing us how to create a landscape with a fence that didn't go straight across the landscape but jaggedly around hills. After that I created landscape after landscape! Ahhhh! Elementary school in the 70's!!!

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  2. Here in the UK we never had Elmer's but I know the kind of PVA white glue you mean... we would use it like a movie special effects department, to make fake wounds and sculpt gaping cuts and sores on ourselves, adding red paint for gruesome effect!! Scared my mum to death more than once!!
    Great card btw - clever idea to use the glue as a mask ;) Rx

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  3. What a great post, Lydia. Your choice of words painted a wonderful picture of our love of glue in grade school days (and beyond) *giggle* Wonderful card. And I'm so glad your glue resembled mine. Mine ended up looking more like a resist. I wonder what it would have looked like if I had painted the glue with liquid pearls. I'd like to see a video tutorial on this technique :)

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  4. Love, Love, Love your card!!! I LOVE that Apron!! I would come to SLC just to go to your Unwind-to help, so I could have an Apron... but, I won't be able to come to Convention this year... :( my daughter is having surgery at that time and needs her Mama.... but I'll be thinking of all of you....

    Faith

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  5. Oh yes! Glue sheets were a wonderful pass time, and making fake scars by puckering your skin with the glue, lol. The first thing I thought of when I saw the apron was the image for your Unwind Retreat, ;)

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  6. Oh your card is so pretty and I have some fond memories of glue too. What an amazing apron; so wishing I lived there to attend these events.

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  7. Ok ... this card is amazing and a must try!

    Also - I remember using the glue paste in elementary school AND I also remember using smearing glue on my hand to dry and peel off in sheets! LOL ...
    What a great memory - thanks for the rewind!

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  8. You know, paste is a thing of the past. They use glue sticks now. But we all did the glue thing. Love the card. Can't wait for the retreat!

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