Glue Fail
Last night I spent about 2 1/2 hours... deconstructing all but three of the broaches and pendants I had made with glass cabochons and fluid-art sheets, because they were deteriorating. Some were going cloudy, and some were crazed with air-bubbles. (sigh)
The ones that were going cloudy were made of the following: Pebeo Fantasy paint (enamel, solvent-based) on acetate sheets, glued with Judkins Diamond Glaze to glass cabochons, then when those were dry, the combo was glued with more Diamond Glaze into gold-coloured tray settings.
The ones that were crazed with air bubbles -- I swear the bubbles were not there when the glue first dried -- were constructed as follows: Acrylic paint on either Yupo Paper or on Photo Paper, glued with Judkins Diamond Glaze onto a glass cabochon, then glued into a silver-coloured setting. I was using Judkins Diamond Glaze because it had been recommended by multiple people as Just The Thing for gluing cabochons and settings. But apparently not for me.
Here's an example of the bubble-crazing on a broach:
I rent the pendants & broaches apart in the hope of being able to salvage the pieces; maybe not the settings, but certainly the glass cabochons. It was a tedious process. First I used an awl to pry the cabochon off, and then the painted sheet, though that didn't always come off cleanly or completely. Then the dull edge of a pair of scissors to scrape the remnants of glue off the cabochon. Then I cleaned the glass with methylated spirits and a tissue, and put it aside in a box. Some of the settings were really gunky -- one of them had still-wet glue inside! I think that one dried on the outside and sealed it up so well that the glue on the inside couldn't try... I mean, this was days after I had done the gluing. An intriguing clue lay with some of the gold settings; they had blue discolouration, as if a chemical reaction had been going on. No, it definitely wasn't the paint, because all the gold settings were used for sheets which had been painted fiery colours; not a trace of blue. So I'm wondering if either (a) the water-based glue reacted with the metal, or (b) the solvent-based paint reacted with the glue and/or the metal, even though it appeared to be completely dry.
Here's a picture of some of the gold pendants.
If you look carefully, you can see some of the discolouration at the edges.
So it appears I'm back to square one in regard to the use of glass cabochons. One needs to have a glue which will be (a) able to glue things to glass, (b) utterly transparent when it dries, and (c) not have a lot of trouble with air-bubbles. Since I don't know what went wrong with the Diamond Glaze -- whether I did something stupid (even though I let each stage dry overnight before I went to the next stage), or whether the materials did not suit, or I live in a weird climate, or something else -- I have very little chance of fixing the problem. Besides, if Diamond Glaze is a fail as a glue, it is fantastic as a varnish: hard and glossy (though neither as hard nor as glossy as resin, let alone glass). So I'm going to use it as a varnish, for my lightweight foamcore beads, and possibly other things too.
So..... what glue to use?
For gluing things to glass, there are a few possibles (which I actually have in my glue collection):
* Dimensional Magic (as seen here: https://youtu.be/YQja7NGkpsM )
* Nunn Design glue -- designed for altered-art jewellery, so it ought to be suitable
* Best Glue Ever (TM) -- designed for scrapbooking and cardmaking, but it appears to have some good properties, including being transparent from the get-go.
For gluing things to metal settings, they don't have to be the same as the above. Possibles:
* E6000 -- but instead of doing what everyone does, I'm actually going to follow the instructions for gluing non-porous objects, even though it takes longer. That is, normally people just slather the glue on one object and then press them together immediately, while the instructions say to put glue on both objects, wait until they are tacky-dry, and then press them together. My reasoning is that there isn't going to be much air penetration between the setting and the glass+paper object, which makes it hard to air-dry, and the act of letting the glue dry to tacky-dry before pressing the items together would mean that the glue had mostly dried, had adhered to both surfaces, and would be much more likely to *stay stuck*.
* Crafter's Pick Ultimate. While this looks like a standard PVA white glue, it is supposed to be able to glue almost anything to anything, though I've never tried it with metal before. But since it is water based (like, wow, a non-toxic strong glue) then I'm afraid I might get that blue chemical reaction I got with the gold settings. Hmmm.
Any suggestions?
The ones that were going cloudy were made of the following: Pebeo Fantasy paint (enamel, solvent-based) on acetate sheets, glued with Judkins Diamond Glaze to glass cabochons, then when those were dry, the combo was glued with more Diamond Glaze into gold-coloured tray settings.
The ones that were crazed with air bubbles -- I swear the bubbles were not there when the glue first dried -- were constructed as follows: Acrylic paint on either Yupo Paper or on Photo Paper, glued with Judkins Diamond Glaze onto a glass cabochon, then glued into a silver-coloured setting. I was using Judkins Diamond Glaze because it had been recommended by multiple people as Just The Thing for gluing cabochons and settings. But apparently not for me.
Here's an example of the bubble-crazing on a broach:
I rent the pendants & broaches apart in the hope of being able to salvage the pieces; maybe not the settings, but certainly the glass cabochons. It was a tedious process. First I used an awl to pry the cabochon off, and then the painted sheet, though that didn't always come off cleanly or completely. Then the dull edge of a pair of scissors to scrape the remnants of glue off the cabochon. Then I cleaned the glass with methylated spirits and a tissue, and put it aside in a box. Some of the settings were really gunky -- one of them had still-wet glue inside! I think that one dried on the outside and sealed it up so well that the glue on the inside couldn't try... I mean, this was days after I had done the gluing. An intriguing clue lay with some of the gold settings; they had blue discolouration, as if a chemical reaction had been going on. No, it definitely wasn't the paint, because all the gold settings were used for sheets which had been painted fiery colours; not a trace of blue. So I'm wondering if either (a) the water-based glue reacted with the metal, or (b) the solvent-based paint reacted with the glue and/or the metal, even though it appeared to be completely dry.
Here's a picture of some of the gold pendants.
If you look carefully, you can see some of the discolouration at the edges.
So it appears I'm back to square one in regard to the use of glass cabochons. One needs to have a glue which will be (a) able to glue things to glass, (b) utterly transparent when it dries, and (c) not have a lot of trouble with air-bubbles. Since I don't know what went wrong with the Diamond Glaze -- whether I did something stupid (even though I let each stage dry overnight before I went to the next stage), or whether the materials did not suit, or I live in a weird climate, or something else -- I have very little chance of fixing the problem. Besides, if Diamond Glaze is a fail as a glue, it is fantastic as a varnish: hard and glossy (though neither as hard nor as glossy as resin, let alone glass). So I'm going to use it as a varnish, for my lightweight foamcore beads, and possibly other things too.
So..... what glue to use?
For gluing things to glass, there are a few possibles (which I actually have in my glue collection):
* Dimensional Magic (as seen here: https://youtu.be/YQja7NGkpsM )
* Nunn Design glue -- designed for altered-art jewellery, so it ought to be suitable
* Best Glue Ever (TM) -- designed for scrapbooking and cardmaking, but it appears to have some good properties, including being transparent from the get-go.
For gluing things to metal settings, they don't have to be the same as the above. Possibles:
* E6000 -- but instead of doing what everyone does, I'm actually going to follow the instructions for gluing non-porous objects, even though it takes longer. That is, normally people just slather the glue on one object and then press them together immediately, while the instructions say to put glue on both objects, wait until they are tacky-dry, and then press them together. My reasoning is that there isn't going to be much air penetration between the setting and the glass+paper object, which makes it hard to air-dry, and the act of letting the glue dry to tacky-dry before pressing the items together would mean that the glue had mostly dried, had adhered to both surfaces, and would be much more likely to *stay stuck*.
* Crafter's Pick Ultimate. While this looks like a standard PVA white glue, it is supposed to be able to glue almost anything to anything, though I've never tried it with metal before. But since it is water based (like, wow, a non-toxic strong glue) then I'm afraid I might get that blue chemical reaction I got with the gold settings. Hmmm.
Any suggestions?