Hello,
My friend Joyce Kane recommended aleene’s Super Thick tacky glue 4 ounce jar a few months ago. It was available on Amazon, and I love shopping Amazon. While on the site I found aleene’s Original tacky glue bottles. They could point and dispense the glue on a spot the size of a pin point. The link described two bottles of glue and two of these amazingly accurate dispensers plus a small funnel to load them. As a blind person, I have found the task of applying glue to a specific spot to be difficult, so I sprang for this little kit.
When the box arrived, the funnel was nowhere to be found; but the bottle caps were shaped like a cone with a point small enough to fit inside the rim of the small dispenser bottles. The dispenser bottle caps had a point as tiny as a pin and a cap to fit on the pin with a tether affixed to the rim. Now that’s what I call convenient, and I’m all about being easy and organized.
My first project was to glue a seed bead to the end of a wire. Definitely precision work, and I was prepared. I tipped my glue bottle upside down inside the rim of the tiny dispenser and began to pour. Gravity held the glue away from the upturned spout, so I squeezed the plastic bottle. Boy this glue is super tacky! So, I squeezed and squeezed and waited, remembering the ancient TV commercials about Heinz Ketchup that featured the popular hit song “Anticipation.” I finally gave up when the dispenser was about one-third full, enough glue to last through dozens of projects I was sure. So, I screwed on the cap and placed the needle point against the spot where the wire protruded through the end of the tiny seed bead. I began to squeeze the bottle.
And I squeezed and squeezed, singing that Anticipation tune as I waited. I placed the fingers of my other hand at the end of the applicator in hopes of feeling the glue when it decided to join me outside the dispenser. I think the universe expanded and contracted several times before the glue finally appeared. When it did, I spread it around the area with my fingers, putting down the applicator with its needle-like dispenser tip, wondering if the glue would dry up and clog the tip before I could get my fingers free of glue before replacing the handy tethered cap
As I sat there making a mess, I thought how nice it would be to stick my fingers into a wide-neck jar and dip out just the right amount of glue and place it exactly where I need it. So last night, before I tackled another gluing task on a different project, I poured some of that glue into a small, wide-mouth jar with a tight-fitting lid that I’d saved just for times like this. Since the craft project that I’m currently working on requires precisely applied tacky glue at multiple spots, I have acquired some experience using this new technique for applying glue. But then I realized, this technique is not new. Joyce Kane discovered it and shared it with me months ago when she had recommended.
aleene’s Super Thick tacky glue 4-ounce jar.
All of this reminded me of the reason why I keep returning to Krafter’s Korner. As a lifelong crafter and artist, I have had to relearn how to do everything non-visually since losing my sight. The advice of blind crafters and artists who have already learned non-visual techniques is constantly flowing, always there to feed my insatiable need to continue crafting. The men and women at Krafter’s have become longtime friends whom I count on and trust, who are ready to share, whether I listen or not. And when I want to try something different, I am eager to share my successes with my fellow crafters. When I make a total mess, though, I turn back to my crafting friends and appreciate them all the more. the Aleene’s tacky glue that Joyce recommended is truly the best I’ve ever used.
Cathy Miller