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Anyone else having problems with GlasTac not drying?

In my class Tues. they used GlasTac to glue their pieces. Didn't work. I just got another bottle today from D & L. I put some on a piece of glass with a toothpick a very small amount. Its been over 30 minutes and it is still not dry.

Anyone else having problems with this glue?

Vernelle

My experience with GlasTac is that it takes hours to dry. I just got an email today from Bullseye stating that they have a new product, GlasTac Gel, and that one of the advantages is that, being thicker, it allows you to move your pieces.

While I can't find a product sheet for GlasTac, one of the project kits includes this step:

"Allow the GlasTac to dry completely. Minimally, it should be left to dry overnight."

When I use GlasTac or any CMC/gum arabic-type product for "gluing," the less the better. These are water-based products, and they're mostly covered (with glass) so they're going to be very slow to evaporate. Drying out will take a loooong time.

That means that a lot of what everyone learned when gluing porous materials like paper or wood isn't going to work with glass. So...the less product you use, the less water there is and the less drying time it takes. A very thin film works better than a flood. Spreading a thin layer evenly all over the contact area may cause more problems than just gluing the edges (at least when the glue is supposed to be temporary).

If you're gluing pieces to make them stable enough to move work to the kiln, tiny dabs of superglue (the runny kind, not the gel) might be a better choice. Just be careful not to plop a big blob right in the middle of a see-through area because I can virtually guarantee it'll pick up moisture and turn white during firing. But if you set the nozzle right where two pieces of glass contact each other, and let capillary action draw the adhesive into the joint, it'll stay at the edge, glue beautifully and stay hidden.

If you're trying to stabilize a lot of fine frit or powder, you can use hairspray (which you can also schpritz into a small cup and apply with a toothpick for gluing).

Or you can thin out the GlasTac/CMC/gum arabic solution and put it in the sprayer, too. Perfume atomizers and those mouth-blown airbrush units are my favorites--do some test schpritzes on dark construction paper to make sure the spray is uniform, then hold them high above the work and spray. Just be very sure to clean the sprayer well when you're finished, it's the very devil to get the stuff out once dried.

Hot glue gun

I'll take a wild guess and say that if glasstac is slow to dry, they put some glycerin in it. You can get it to dry with some added heat, either from a hair dryer or kiln elements.

I use glycerin in my vitreous paint medium and routinely put it in a kiln to force it to dry. My paint will stay wet, on a palette in the open air, for a month.

Thank you to everyone who replied.

I think I will switch to something I use at home and know will work.....hair spray.

Vernelle

Good idea !!!!!!!!
Jim

vblue wrote:Thank you to everyone who replied.

I think I will switch to something I use at home and know will work.....hair spray.

Vernelle