Hi all, The recent topic of hide glue has me thinking about a
question. In Carles Codina’s book, “The Complete Book of Jewelry
Making”, he mentions several organic binders to be used to attach the
granules. The key being that they are organic so that they will emit
carbon. Two he mentions are gum tragacanth and gum arabic. So my
question is, has anyone used something like this other than regular
hide glue? This may sound silly to many but I am vegan and like to
make a plant based choice where I can. But I am sure that many people
like to stick with what works and what has worked for thousands of
years. Any thoughts?- Thank you-Carrie Nunes metalpetals@home.com
Carrie, I remember learning granulation using spit as the glue. I
don’t know if this was mentioned before but I recall it working well.
We’d suck on a soft bristle brush and and touch it the the granules.
Leda
I had a student who took a workshop at IU who said that they used the
old yellow mucilage. For you youngsters, this is a glue that comes in
a bottle with a rubber applicator tip and predates Elmer’s glue. I
don’t know the brand name but I have seen it on office and school
aisles of drugstores and the various “marts.” I don’t know what it is
made from. Would Elmer’s work? I think that it is based on casein
which comes from milk although if you’re a strict vegan, this would
probably still be objectionable. The objective is to use something to
hold the granules in place and will burn producing carbon. What about
corn syrup?
Marilyn Smith
I’ve very successfully used a flour and water paste made from rice or
cereal flour. Even mustard will work.
I’ve done the best work using a compound of copper sulphate, rice
flour and water!
All you need is a substance that is carbon based.
What actually happens is that the glue is reduced to a carbon deposit
during heating. This combines with the oxygen in the copper oxide on
the surface forming carbon dioxide, the copper then forms a eutectic
alloy on the surface of the granule and the plate and this fuses the
two together.
Tony Konrath
Gold and Stone
www.goldandstone.com
tony@goldandstone.com
1 Like
Hi Carrie; I have used gum tragacanth and it worked well. I mixed it
with water and and a few drops of liquid flux. A friend gave me some
tragacanth powder, so I don’t have a source for it. Sorry. Regards
Michaela Wolfert
Hi Carrie; I have used gum tragacanth and it worked well. I mixed it
with water and and a few drops of liquid flux. A friend gave me some
tragacanth powder, so I don’t have a source for it. Sorry. Regards
Michaela Wolfert
Michaela & Carrie,
Ah, the wonders of the Internet and the World Wide Web. I thought I’d
heard of tragacanth before, in conjunction with food. I went searching
and found an article here:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-252.html
In any case, I expect you’d be able to find gum tragacanth at a
natural foods store.
Christine in Littleton, Massachusetts, USA, enjoying the lovely cool
morning after last night’s showers.
Gum of Tragacath can be purchased in powder form from Daniel Smith
Arts (in Seattle, I think). I got an 8 oz. pack from them and mix my
own for enameling. Artists who make their own pastels use it for a
binder, so a large art supply store might have it.
Donna in VA