Stick With Me: What is the Best Craft Glue For Your Projects?

What is the Best Craft Glue for Projects? My Top Three Picks
What is the best kind of craft glue, if you’re looking to bond something nonporous ? Suppose your specialty involves attaching beads, sequins, or glitter to a hard surface like a wooden picture frame or a plaster stepping stone (just a few good examples)

There is nothing wrong with industrial strength adhesive in and of itself, but unless it’s marketed to crafters and hobbyists you might find yourself in a, well, a “sticky situation” LOL.

Let’s take a good look at a few of the products I use with ease and confidence and why I feel them to be the best craft adhesive products out there!

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Aleene’s

This brand is known for its “tacky”signature glue and Aleene’s is a highly trusted name. I have used Tacky and “Jewel-It” when T-shirt bling was all the rage a hundred years ago, and most recently this clear variety

Even though it comes out white and dries clear on the other varieties too, I like being able to see my materials and not the glue sometimes :).

I was making a mixed-media art piece and wanted to be able to apply a nice generous ribbon to one area and not be forever squirting drop by drop. I’m overall happy with this clear formula but can’t believe I went through half a bottle for a small 11 by 14 picture?

Whenever I’ve been too stingy with craft glue, it just meant I’d have a few do-overs before me.

If you’re wanting to give some bling to an item that will not be getting washed, say, like a handbag, belt or pair of canvas sneakers, it’s a great choice. Also there is hardly any offensive odor to any of Aleene’s glues.

Pros

• Thick consistency
• No offensive odor
• Dries flexible and clear
• Resists yellowing
• Many different varieties for different niches

Cons

At the present time, nothing to report that would be a serious deal-breaker, other than it may not be waterproof (meaning that your bling may stay on through a few washings here and there, but a few of them could come off at some point)

I washed my blinged-up tshirt from earlier – even turning it inside out – and I did find a rhinestone or two had come off. So I can’t say it has definitely passed that test😞 .

You can find Aleene’s in many varieties to fit your crafting needs whatever medium you fancy, or combination of them.

Gorilla Glue

I picked up a bottle of this when I ran out of my favorite (see my story) and I will gladly tell you, you won’t be disappointed! Although advertised for home repairs, it’s great for crafts especially those that involve hard nonporous objects.

I like the application bottle much better than the tube dispenser and so far it’s been nice not having a mess on top of whatever project I’m doing. There is one exception to the “bonds virtually everything” rule and that is polyethelene which is something I don’t deal with anyway (it’s some kind of plastic)

One important tip and that is that you have to slightly dampen the surface you are working on before glueing if you get the “original formula” I thought I needed to do that for the “Clear” but then found out differently.

It is solvent based so if you get it on your skin you may have to use rubbing alcohol to clean it off. I myself have had no skin irritation; it’s just annoying.

Also it doesn’t appear to have much odor to it, if any (don’t worry, I’m not a glue-sniffer! LOL) So if noxious fumes have put you off buying craft glue this is something to consider!

Pros

• Strong bonding
• Low to no odor
• Waterproof
• Works great with most all nonporous materials
• Easy to use mess free application bottle

Cons

Need to remember to dampen your surface first (IF you choose the original formula)

Gorilla Glue has several different types available…Click here to see the type I use for crafting!

Best craft adhesive, hands down: E6000

Well, I’ve been using this stuff before the Macarena became a hit…thanks to a craft store proprietor way back when (early 90s) who called it the best craft glue hands down when I asked about something that would affix faux gems to Friendly Plastic jewelry pieces (that’s a long story for another time, lol)

And she wasn’t wrong about that by a long shot…it really is the best craft adhesive out there if it is important for your projects to be permanently bonded.

A must-have if you like to make things like handmade snow and glitter globes because it is water-resistant upon full curation. And once that happens, it hangs on for dear life!

It’s essential for crafts that involve hard, nonporous items, such as sequins, beads, flatbed rhinestones, mini mirrors, polymer craft clay items, what have you, to bond to other nonporous surfaces. Being industrial strength, it does have somewhat of an odor to it, which is par for the course, I suppose.

I would not and do NOT use it for fabric items, barring something like vinyl or leather – it will seep through anything like cotton or poly and not only that, dry with a really bad looking stain that won’t go away.

If there is one negative to point out, it has a tendency to ooze out of the tube unless you re-cap it back on the double. There is also a skinny, “precision tip” design applicator out now, it will still ooze if you don’t recap it right away, but not as much.

Pros

• Bonds almost anything strongly
• Waterproof
• Clear and doesn’t show
• Permanent upon full curation

Cons

• Does have somewhat of an odor
• May ooze easily unless recapped quickly
• Not good for working with porous materials

I love my E6000 Glue…What more can I say? This stuff ROCKS!

What about glue for wood and outdoor crafts?

Glad you asked…Especially if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I specialize in a lot of yard art and outdoor crafts. Which means it’s important to find a type of glue that’s not only dependable, but waterproof.

Here is something I’ve been working on currently. This is parts of an optical illusion windspinner. Because of its intricate design, I have to adhere the different parts together very carefully, and one piece at a time. I am using Gorilla Glue for Wood. It does remind me of the Elmer’s variety I used to use a long time ago.  Right here is the “pre-bonding” stage so you can see it’s still in that pale yellow but when it dries it will turn darker.

It is not super thick…I applied it to both pieces, you can see a little bit oozing out, which is normal. Because I’m only glueing one piece each day, it’s too soon to tell you how things will pan out, but I’ve got a good feeling about it.

Conclusion

In all my years of glueing I have found these to be the most dependable brands. They are also affordable and versatile.

Happy Glueing!!!
The above brands are mainly for non porous materials. Bond beads, sequins, gems, buttons, and many more bric-a-brac like this – with confidence.

Aleene’s is pretty much nontoxic but the other two are solvent based so take a few precautions here and there. What can I say, I LOVES my different craft glues.