Going on week 2 of “isolation.” I literally have not gone anywhere for almost a week, other than picking up Luna from the animal shelter last Wednesday. I am so grateful that I was able to get her before things completely shut down. I am lucky that I already work from home. My hubby is still periodically going into work so he has been stopping at the grocery store on the way home. I am use to and like not having to go anywhere. Other than I wish it were for other circumstances and by choice!
I am using this time to experiment with recycling various materials and designing and creating new jewelry lines. This last week I have been focusing, or at least when I’m not obsessed with listening to and reading the news, on turning Formica samples into some jewelry!
I have literally spent hours sanding a gazillion little earring studs. The sanding of all of these was not the worst however!
Gluing all the little Formica pieces was, what word to use to describe it, interesting, not fun, a learning experience, a nightmare! OK, maybe saying it was a nightmare is an exaggeration but it was definitely a learning experience.
I consider myself a metalsmith. I like to work with metal and rough gemstones the best. I don’t do a lot of beading, “crafting,” or use glue, of any kind, other than maybe to hold a difficult gemstone in place while I am setting it. As I am starting to work with some alternative materials such as leather, acrylic, wood and Formica, things that cannot be soldered or where a rivet is not practical such in the case of these little, itty, bitty Formica sample earrings glue is about the only thing that will work to put on an earring post.
I started off using Rio Jett Set from Rio Grande. The description describes this glue a cyanoacrylate. Which is commonly known as super glue. Jett set was said to be effective on metal, stone, wood, rubber, glass and most plastics. I thought perfect! It is a jeweler’s glue that can be use on metal, the stainless steel earring posts and wood, the backing of the Formica samples. I had moderate success with it. On many of the larger stud earrings I was able to snap the piece right off without a whole lot of effort! Not sure what I did wrong or if I didn’t let it cure long enough or what.
Next I tried E6000. I have tried using this glue various times for various things but never have had really good luck with it. Maybe in part due to my impatience. Patience is definitely NOT my virtue! This glue needs at least 24 hours and up to 72 hours to fully cure. From past experiences using E6000 I knew I was going to need the full 72 hours. I was not going to touch or even look at it for 72 hours. I had the time. Being isolated I didn’t have anything pressing other than to wait for glue to dry, so I did!
After a good, full 72 hours I tested my earrings. It held! That is on all the studs expect for the smaller ones. I was able to peel them right off. Not sure if it was due to the fact that they were so small that the glue didn’t have enough surface to properly adhere to or what! I was also able to peel of the aluminum piece from the faux leather samples. I am giving it another whirl to see if I can get it to bond this time.
In conjunction with the E6000, I also tried Crafter’s Pick, The Ultimate adhesive. I found Crafters Pick to be very similar to E6000 with similar results. Crafters pick dries quicker and is not quite as messy. Not sure if it is “ultimately” as strong as E6000. I will have to do some more experimenting.
To bond faux leathers together I tried using Ice Resin Leather Adhesive. Not sure if this stuff works at all. I am trying some more samples, but as of yet I’m not impressed and doubt that I will be purchasing this particular glue again.
After gluing, regluing and trying this and that several times, you can only imagine my frustration. I had yet to figure out how to get the small studs to hold. I didn’t think that was going to be my problem child! As a last ditch effort I thought, let’s see what super glue can do. OMG! It worked, MIRACUOUSLY! I couldn’t believe it! Is super glue the answer? Will it become my go to glue for making jewelry such as this? I am almost embarrassed to admit that yes these earring studs were superglued. I only had one incident where I almost glued the tube to my thumb. Luckily I was able to pull it off. Super glue still scares me a bit though!
Soldering can certainly be frustrating at times, but holy moly using glue has way more challenges! The biggest take away from this whole experience is that there is no one best glue! I have more glues to try and am still on a quest for the “BEST” glue to use for the material and will continue to experiment with glue as needed. But, I will stick to soldering and rivets when I can!
Until next time,
ENJOY!! Stay home, stay safe and stay well!
cheryl