Glue Making and a look inside the Cooler.
The glue I use to stick the tiles to the paper is made from plain flour and water. This was begining to break down and go a little runny for my liking ….not mouldy yet, just a little runny. So I decided to put it back in the sausepan and add a little more flour to thicken it up.
I like the paste quite thick so the tiles are able to slide on top of the glue while it is still wet. this makes arranging them much easier, so thick paste is favourite.
So I popped it back in the pan and thickened it up added a bit more salt as a preservative to delay it going mouldy, and simmered it untill it went like boiling mud in Yellowstone National Park….lovely. Back in my jar and back to work.
Now I thought as there is less water content in the glue it would also dry quicker as the temperature is generally going down and getting cooler, now autumn is setting in, so a thick paste would dry quicker with less moisture in, also advantageous as the reduced moisture does not buckle the kraft paper so much either. It can be pain trying to lay very small tiles on buckled paper (like tiny boats in very rough seas, with troughs of highs and lows).
Now I been in my workshop this morning and the glue has not dried over night, but when it was runny it dried much quicker! eh..dont get that.
But no matter…. I might add a little water to it as it is so thick I had difficulty getting it off the brush and onto the paper into those little nooks and crannys. So its a trade off then between optimun slideability and brushability. Fine adjustment required for maximum glue performance properties.
I made a daisy yesterday and I painted diaseys on my first ever piece of public art back in 1989 in Deptford. I have not put daiseys in everything since, but I have painted many on murals over the years and it has become almost a signature but not quite….I like them though. The days eye which opens all day and shuts at night time.
