Art Accessories - FAQs

Q1: What is the best glue for paper and card?

Answer: White glue (polyvinyl acetate, or PVA). PVA Glue It's the most versatile adhesive! You can use it on a great range of mediums, such as wood, plastic, paper, fabric, card and more.

Q2: Is white glue good for paper?

Answer: White glue or PVA glue is a white liquid, usually sold in plastic bottles. It is recommended for use on porous materials, wood, paper, cloth, porous pottery, and wood-to-wood bonds. It is not water resistant.

Q3: How long does a glue stick last?

Answer: Glue sticks have a one-year minimum shelf life.

Q4: Is hot glue permanent?

Answer: Yes, hot glue is as permanent as epoxy glue.

Q5: How long do glue sticks take to dry?

Answer: Glue sticks have a dry time of about 2-5 minutes depending on temperature and humidity. Glue sticks are really designed for work on small surfaces that can be covered quickly, so it is hard to apply glue on large surface area before it starts drying.

Q6: What is a tjanting tool?

Answer: The tjanting is a pen-shaped tool used to draw a design with melted wax on cloth, for batik, or wax-resist dyeing technique.

Q7: What is batik technique?

Answer: Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied onto the fabric. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a tjanting or canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap.

Q8: What is Gesso primer?

Answer: Gesso is made from a mixture of chalk or plaster and glue. Gesso Primer can be applied onto canvas for preparation of surface, it is white in color.

Q9: What is gesso primer used for?

Answer: Gesso prepares (or "primes") the surface for painting, making the surface slightly textured and ready to accept acrylic and oil paint. It prevents the acrylic paint from absorbing directly into the canvas.

Q10: What's the difference between gesso and primer?

Answer: Basically, gesso is a primer, but not all primers are gesso, depending on their ingredients. Modern primers including; canvas primer and board primer, contain a range of ingredients to suit various needs, whereas the basic ingredients of gesso are binder, chalk or gypsum and pigment.

Q11: Will Gold or Silver leaf stick to hot glue?

Answer: Yes, Gold or Silver leaf will easily stick to hot glue.

Q12: How long does it take for gold leaf adhesive to dry?

Answer: You should wait for approximately 15-30 minutes.

Q13: Does imitation gold leaf need to be sealed?

Answer: Yes, all metal leaf (gold or silver) should be sealed. Imitation Gold Leaf will tarnish (discolor) and therefore requires a clear coat sealer after application. It’s not only prevents oxidation is but also increase durability of the leaf.

Q14: What are charcoal sticks?

Answer: Charcoal stick is a drawing medium composed of compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a wax or clay. As they are made from charcoal and wax, called compressed charcoal.

Q15: Do you need special paper for charcoal?

Answer: A fine tooth paper is best choice for charcoal use and creates less dust, while on a rough toothed paper the blending of charcoal is difficult. On shiny or glossy paper charcoal won't adhere properly.