Glue issues...help

[TheDancingCrystal]

I'm so glad I found a forum for advice. I started working with polymer clay a few months ago. I am joining polyclay pieces to driftwood. I'm in the final stages and have hit a major glue problem.

I went to several websites that discuss gluing polyclay to wood and the advice is conflicting. I bought 2 part epoxy, E 6000, polyclay super glue and gorilla glue. I did test pieces and although the polyglue did well holding clay to clay none of these glues worked well on clay to wood. Out of desperation I picked up my high temperature hot glue gun and did some test pieces with it. The hot glue gave a stronger bond then any of the other glues that were suppose to work. I have been reading that hot glue is not a good choice because the bond will not last. Has anyone had any experience with this?

[Former_Member]

I personally use E-6000 and I haven't had any problems with it sticking to anything. Although I haven't glued anything to wood before. :(

I really wish I could be more help. My only advice is run another test and give the glue 48 hours to dry. Depending on how much you use or how big the area, it might need more time to get a strong bond.

Good luck!

[Former_Member]

I also tend to use super glue/generic super glue and e-6000. You might need to drill & glue a metal or clay "peg" into the wood then use the e-6000 to attach the "peg" to your project.

[HiGirls]

You could try Bake N Bond and bake the whole thing.

[Former_Member]

I have used SoBo glue for clay to clay and clay to wood bonds. I don't know if you can see the fisherman figurine in my shop banner if not you can see it here on Flickr. For the base I used a 1/4" piece of plywood. Liberally coated it with Sobo glue and when it was tacky / dry I lay my clay over the top, rolled it into place and baked. The entire plywood is covered with brown clay. That figurine was made back in 2004 and there has been no problem with either the clay or the Sobo. The other great thing about Sobo is that I have used it for raw clay to raw clay and baked clay to raw clay connections. It is also heat tolerant. So I have been able to use it and still bake again in the oven. According to the bottle its 'for use on porous and semi-porous surfaces like paper, wood ceramics, ribbons dried or silk flowers, beads, chenille, leather and feathers. It dries clear, flexible and permanent and won't yellow'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judithlynnoriginals/5628050070/


Hope that helps.

[TheDancingCrystal]

Thank you for your responses. I did not realize Sobo could take baking temperatures. I am going to try new test pieces with different glues and drilling pegs. I have read so many horror stories about glue failure it rattled me. In the future when I design my pieces I'm going to use mechanical holds in addition to glue.

This has been an adventure as I am learning as I go along. Hopefully I will have some pieces to post after I get the glue issues worked through.

[TheDancingCrystal]

A follow up in case anyone else is having glue issues with wood. I ended up using a combination of bake and bond and sobo glue. I prebaked my wood to remove any moisture and while the wood was still warm I added my raw polymer clay pieces with a combination of bake and bond and sobo. It appears to have a really tight bond now.

One on prebaked piece that combination did not work as well and I used two part epoxy.