Review: Glue Gun

Hello!  Today’s post is a little different than the usual DIY and I hope useful, as today I’m blogging glue guns.  I’m a believer [and still am] that you don’t need electrical equipment, tools and gadgets to be creative, but this small investment has not only saved me time, it’s added strength and saved many a project that otherwise would have been abandoned.

So, here it is.  A mini glue gun which I bought [as it was on offer] from HobbyCraft earlier this year and cost me £10.  Glue sticks were on offer [8 in a pack] at 3 for 2, so I grabbed them too, bringing my total spend to £14.

Typically, like with most things I buy, you can now get this for half the price – £5.

I've had the glue gun in my crafting arsenal for a fair few months now and I honestly could not be without it.

Here's my ode to my glue gun:

If you are impatient, like me, and need to get on a project there and then otherwise you’ll move on to something else and it will never be finished – this is your answer.  The speed at which everything dries securely makes you want to glue gun everything together to test it [don’t, for such a small product, it is deceptively strong stuff].  This does mean you need to be super quick - have everything ready to glue, fix and hold in place so that you don't become a complete mess and tangled up, grabbing your materials to stick together and the glue drying before you have the chance.  For projects you need completing in a hurry - say hello to your new best friend.

...and by strong, I mean you will break all your nails trying to rip anything glued apart.  It literally fuses things together, it's pretty amazing.

Which leads me to its multi-purpose use.  I’ve used the glue gun to fix felt, fabric, foam, plastic, cardboard, paper, coated paper, wood, sequins, thread and cork.  What's left for me to try?

Not to completely contradict my previous statements, the glue is surprisingly flexible.  In almost every project, I’ve used too much glue, which has either spread through any gaps or the joins in material.  Once dry, the glue has been easily tidied up by cutting the excess with scissors or a craft knife.  Magic.

Overall, I'm just a little bit in love with it's general ease of use - the glue sticks are easily changed, the flow [after a little practice] it easily controlled and most importantly, the gun heats up quickly - you're good to go in minutes.

Here are some projects that were saved with the use of the mighty glue gun:

Gemstone Tags:

Eiffel Tower Décor:

  

Broadway Lights Experiments 1 & 2:

Felt Flower Pom Poms:

Sequin Trim Decorations:

Bows:

Rope Jar Lanterns:

Giraffe Bookends:

Ombre Cord Bar Bracelet:

This glue gun has Christmas written all over it.

Which is all well and good, but what are the negatives?  Nothing more than you’d probably expect:

• If you spill or accidentally come in to contact with anything other than what you are trying to glue, you, my friend, have had it.  This may or may not have happened to my carpet.
• Protecting your surfaces – I’ve developed a habit of using newspaper stacks to balance and rest  my gun between gluing - you need something.  Anything [I've yet to cave in and buy the 'official' glue mat.
• The wire length - seriously.  So short.  If you work somewhere away from the sockets, you'll understand the first point.  Or at least, your carpet will too.
• The stabiliser.  If I'm honest, it's a complete fluke when this works. More often than not, the gun ends up on it's side [not ideal, so try and rest it against something if you can, or be prepared for the side of the gun to be a little tacky and stick to the protecting surface].
• It burns.  It really, really does. The tips of my fingers are now completely hardened to it, but in all seriousness, be careful.  It's small but can do great damage to your skin, so I leave you with this.

...and here are my two-pennies worth of tips [literally]:

• Stringy Glue - this is only caused if the gun hasn't heated up properly, so make sure you do give it a few minutes and test a small blob.  If your glue is stringy, it's really not the end of the world, just a little messy.
• The end of the glue stick - when one glue stick is ending, adding another is simple, but that last ends can be a little stubborn and the gun trigger just wont help - use a pencil to push the glue stick, but be a little controlled about how much will push through.

Bet you didn't think such a long post could be written about a glue gun, did ya?  

see you next time x

P.S – this is in no way a sponsored post [an affiliate link has been used to HC store and product] and I have made sure I’ve used it for a variety of projects before recommending – I hope I’ve covered most points in this post, but if you have any questions, please do ask!