Deko Gel Replacement

So early on, when I started using polymer clay, I looked around for Fimo Deko Gel--a clear kind of liquid clay which one can use to make realistic looking jams and jellies. Sadly, it wasn't available in the store I often went to to buy my clay stuffs. It was only after six months that I finally found Deko Gel--and saw it's price. I thought--I really need it. It's been epic hard to make realistic looking jellies with TLS, but I badly didn't want to spend that much for deko gel. I mean, really, how much jelly do I need?

Nevertheless, I'm the kind of artist who can't move on to the next art piece unless she has finished what she has in mind, so I began saving up for it. Now I have a bad habit of going into bookstores, reading the books and NEVER buying any books. Heehee. Anyway, last week, I was waiting for a friend of mine to meet me up, so I picked up a book about resin air-dry clay. Obviously, it couldn't be put in the oven like our usual polymer clay, so I looked at it, wondering how they did the sweets, as I've never heard of air-dry liquid clay. Sounds kind of oxymoronic to me, really. Anyway, when I found out, it was so simply, so practical, that I practically had to ask myself why I never thought of it.

So without further ado, here's a video of what you can use to replace deko gel:

Miser Mondays.

One of the first things an artists learns in crafting is what type of glue best works with you. That rhymed. Anyway, my journey to find my glue-soul mate has thankfully been a short one. My first romance was with this guy:

All I can say is--may he fall down on his head hard. The glue barely kept my stuff together! I work with polymer and metal, so if this is what you work with too, this glue is not for you.

My next one seemed promising. The salesman told me that it was so strong that it came with a free glue release agent 'cause if it came in contact with  my skin, I'd have to peel off my skin. I told the salesman that if the glue didn't keep my jewelry pieces together, I would use the glue to stick his face to a wall. I went home hopeful, so I stuck two metal pieces together, and went to bed. The next day, one good yank was all it needed for me to realize that 3rd Generation Turbo Glue was not the One. ALTHOUGH. I will not completely discount this. I still used it, and it works very well with polymer to metal crafts. The salesman lied though--one night, I had half of this glue spill over my legs. It hurt like crap, but after immediately rinsing it with cold water, I was able to peel it off easily. It did ruin my clothes though. My denim shorts were fine, but my jersey top was history. A shame--it had a matching mint colored blazer. I'd buy this again, but the price is rather hefty, or at least it is for me. I think I'll put it in the "worth it" category, as it'll last you a long time, as long as you don't decide to use it for a mini leg wax like I accidentally did.

Then came my short-lived fling with the famous E6000. A lot of crafters use it, and it says INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH ON TOP. Unfortunately, I only got to glue one piece of jewelry, before I lost it in my work area. I used it to glue metal to metal, and it popped right off, sadly. Quite hard to get a hold of here in the Philippines, as it comes only in craft stores and not at hardware shops. But at 50-60p, it's cheap, and I believe, effective on clay to clay materials.









I found the One by accident. After running out of Turbo glue, I found myself in dire need of glue. There was a storm that day, and I couldn't get too far to buy the glue. Thankfully, there was a hardware store nearby. I decided to bite the bullet and find some heavy duty stuff there. When I got there, the people were a little confused. This was a heavy-duty hardware, not the ones with prim salesmen, but the ones where construction workers liked to hang out. So they had never heard of my Turbo Glue with free glue antidote. What they had was something else:

Now before I discovered this glue, I had a project that badly needed some strong-ass glue. I tried everything, even that cynoacrylate thing--did I spell it right? But nothing worked. I had some resin on hand for resin jewelry, and I thought--why not? So I used it, and it worked like a charm. Nothing I did separated the two pieces. They were like Romeo and Juliet after I used the glue. So when I went into that hardware store and they showed me this glue--a RESIN ADHESIVE, I went crazy. I bought it, used it, and it did not fail me. Now I use it for all my jewelries. It dries clear in five minutes (okay, wrong picture, get the PLUS FIVE ONE if you really need it quickly), and for projects for which I need more than five minutes, I use the one in the picture. And it's only 45 pesos. Note to those with sensitive skin though--USE GLOVES. I'm allergic to resin, and since I still want to work with it, I have to use gloves. Resin allergy is not pretty, and takes a long time to go away even with a dermatologist-medicated medicine.