Gluing Technique Help!

[Show and Tell]

I use a hair drier to speed the drying time up a little

 

[Puppetplanet]

I use a hair drier to speed the drying time up a little

Me Too! I think thats why all the hair is singed off my knuckles..... yes, women have hair on their knuckles too. But, it does save me money on waxing!

Now.... about those eye brows.

 

[The Good Doctor]

Contact cement

Me Too! I think thats why all the hair is singed off my knuckles..... yes, women have hair on their knuckles too. But, it does save me money on waxing!

Now.... about those eye brows.

So what kind of contact cement should I use. I want to use what ever is the best.

 

[ravagefrackle]

So what kind of contact cement should I use. I want to use what ever is the best.

Many use a product called BARGE, it might be hard to find though, try calling some shoe repair places and seeing if they will sell u some, it very smelly stuff, use ventilation, it also has a thinner that you can use to clean brushes, and remove small glue drips,

i use DAP'Weldwood conact cement , works just as well as barge to me, but some dont like it,

however it is easily avalible to find at your local home depot, and its cheap to, about 5 dollars for a 16 fl oz's, so if it dries up before you are done with it , you havnet spent too much, barge on the other hand is a little more pricey, and even with the thinner , at some point it will go bad, and if you didnt use all of it , your stuck with a can of rubbery goop

 

[Puppetplanet]

Yep, I use the Welwood in gel formula because it's easier to control and avoid drips/spills. I've never had issues with it drying up, but I also run through about a can every 2-3 weeks too, so it may not ever get the opportunity to settle long enough to dry. Not sure how long of a "shelf" life it has. I think it may depend on variables such as climate. Mine tends to get watery during the summer months when it's really hot out.


Anyone using this stuff really needs to pay attention to the ventilation advice. I store and use it only in the garage with the door wide open and fan blowing.

 

[Camellia]

foam, glue etc.

hi, yes, the other posts are correct. different foams need different glues. the wrong kind of glue can melt certain materials, including other plastics. some testing would work well in your own workshop. also, glue guns are just little heated globs of melted plastic. Use them for whatever they're appropriate with. Elmer's white glue (polyvinyl) won't stick to foam for the long term.

Most plastic-type foams do deteriorate and crumble over time, so if you want archive quality puppets, you might want to do research quality materials and stuffings.

good luck!
Camellia

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Anyone using this stuff really needs to pay attention to the ventilation advice. I store and use it only in the garage with the door wide open and fan blowing.

No respirator?

Yikes, I hope you're not planning to have more children. There's carcinogens in that stuff!

 

[Puppetplanet]

Nope no respirator, but we're talking a garage door here, not a regular wall door and the fan is behind me blowing toward the door. I never smell the stuff.

I've got three perfectly healthy children, so it's never been an issue.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Well I was exaggerating about the having more children thing, but not much.

This is not so much a direct reply to Michele but a general comment on the whole contact cement/respirator isssue...the fumes in contact cement can cause headaches, damage your nasal passage, compromise your immune system and are suspected to cause cancer...and that's just the first few that pop in to my head.

I will readily admit that occasionally when I am in a rush I don't always use every safety precaution - but I should. Just having a ventilated workspace is not good enough if you want to properly protect your health. People are of course free to do what they want but I would strongly, very strongly encourage everyone here who uses contact cement to wear a respirator. It's also a very good idea to wear some kind of gloves or at least barrier cream to protect your skin as it's actually more harmful to have contact cement on your skin than it is to inhale the fumes.

 

[Puppetplanet]

Hmmm, I never knew about the skin contact thing. But I just noticed that it says that on the can too.


Wonder what kind of gloves would be acceptable without hindering the ability to work. Wouldn't think rubber gloves would be suffient huh? I do get a bit on my hands about 95% of the time, not much, but then again only a little bit can go a long way with that stuff.

I just figured if the fans were helping to keep me from smelling it then the fumes arn't causing any damage. I just don't forsee realistically being able to work with a big gas mask hanging from my face. Where the heck would you get something like that tho? The little white fiber things at Home Depot aren't the kind that filter out that kind of stuff.

-M