Next to cardstock, glue is one of the most critical ingredients in cardmaking. I see a lot of people posting to forums asking “why do my cards keep buckling?” The answer is generally their choice of glue.
Wet vs dry adhesives
But actually we’re not just talking about glue, we’re talking about adhesives. Glue is one type of adhesive, but there are other types and the best adhesive for your project might be one of those other types.
You can think of adhesives as falling into two types: Wet and dry. Wet adhesives are what you probably think of first when you think “glue” — products like Elmer’s glue. Wet adhesives come in bottles, tubes, or pots, and are applied as a sticky liquid that bonds items together.
Dry adhesives are sticky but not wet — think glue sticks, double sided tape, and adhesive sheets.
This distinction is pretty important in cardmaking because we work with paper, and the wetter paper gets, the more it buckles and warps. To minimize this buckling we need to control moisture, and the #1 source of this is your adhesive.
Wet glues like Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive and Bearly Precision Glue add moisture to your project. Used sparingly and with heavier cardstock this usually isn’t a problem, but it becomes problematic if you need more glue or use lighter paper. That’s when dry adhesives really shine. These don’t add moisture to your project, so the risk of buckling is much smaller.
So why not always use dry adhesives? You can, but wet adhesives do have a few advantages;
- “Tack time”
- Precision
- Cost
Precision is another factor. You can get precision tips for a lot of wet adhesives, and this can really help when working with small die cuts and embellishments. There is at least one dry adhesive that works well for these though: Sticky Specks, aka “micro adhesive dots.”
Cost is the final factor: In many cases a big bottle of wet glue costs less than an equivalent (in mileage) dry adhesive, but not always.
TLDR;
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Recommendations
Top wet glues
My personal faves for this category (in order) are:
- Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
- Bearly Precision Glue*
- Emergency backup: Tombow Mono Aqua
Bearly was my answer to that problem. It is not temperature-sensitive and can ship year-round. You can buy it with with precision tips, and it’s quite affordable (in my area anyway). It is not quite as strong as Nuvo, but has a slightly longer tack time.
Tombow Mono Aqua is the newest glue in my arsenal. It can be used as a top coat to add shine to a sentiment or die cuts, which I really like. It also has super long tack time, so if that’s important to you then this is a good choice. It comes in a double ended dispenser, with a precision tip on one side and a broad dispenser on the other.
Top glue stick
Hands-down my favorite dry adhesive:
This is VERY strong glue with basically zero tack time, so it’s great for making cards that won’t come apart but is also unforgiving of mistakes. I like it for adhering card panels to bases.
Top adhesive for delicate die cuts
Top double-sided tape
Double sided tape is my go-to for making envelopes, especially for the flaps — you can add your tape but leave the backing on until you’re ready to mail them. I bought a 10-pack of this double sided tape two years ago from Amazon for $16, and I still have plenty. Great value for money! It can be a bit tricky to remove the backing tape but if you have a craft tool like the Spellbinders Tool’n One you’ll be fine.
Honorable mention
There’s one other dry adhesive worth mentioning. Die Cut’n Bond is like double-sided tape on steroids. It comes in big rolls, 5” across. You can apply it to the back of your cardstock before die cutting, then die cut it, and voila! You have basically created a sticker. It’s neat stuff, and the only downside worth mentioning is that I find my die cutter sometimes struggles to cut all the way through the backing sheet. If this happens to you try adding a shim to get a cleaner cut.