Hints & tips for using your craft glue gun

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Hints & tips for using your craft glue gun

Mixing hot glue colours

At Hobbytec, we offer a pretty wide range of coloured glue, but if there’s one that we haven’t got covered, why not try mixing it yourself? Our glue sticks cut easily with scissors, so you can feed small lengths of different glue into the gun to achieve different colours and effects.

For example, inserting half of one white glue stick, a quarter of a red stick, followed by the remaining half of the white stick is perfect for creating pink glue. Moving the glue gun in a swirling motion while dispensing the glue creates a marbled effect, which you can practice on a tec mat.

You can even use a Glue Saver to make your own glue sticks. Made of silicone, the Glue Saver remoulds hot glue into up to four smaller 12mm glue sticks that you can pop out once dry and use later. Just insert your nozzle into one of the openings in the sides of the Glue Saver, and dispense your glue until the columns are full.

Changing hot glue colours

Ah, coloured glue. It looks great, but it can sometimes leave a residue in your gun which has a lasting effect on your next glue stick. When you want to use different colours, a lot of waste can be avoided if you can use two guns. If you don’t have this luxury, instead try running a clear glue stick through your gun after using a bright colour to purge any residue.

If you want to change the colour of your glue stick halfway through, a Glue Saver can help you to avoid wasting anything. Just dispense your unwanted glue by inserting your nozzle into one of the holes in the sides of the Glue Saver, and keep going until the four columns are full to the top. The glue will then dry into 12mm glue sticks, and you can use them later.

Using silicone moulds with hot melt glue

Crafting glue can be used to make things like small gems, shapes or lettering by pouring it into silicone moulds. Available from craft shops, these moulds provide a really quick and easy way of shaping glue.

We recommend that when using moulds, you should always make sure that they are made from silicone. Other materials will melt and the solid glue will not be released from the mould, which just leaves everyone feeling sad. Some products look and feel like silicone, but don’t be fooled: always check before purchasing.

Make your own templates & trace with hot melt glue

Make your own templates in a flash by tracing outlines onto a tec mat and cutting them out with a modelling knife (this works especially well with lettering). Lay this on top of a second tec mat and your template is ready!

Simply dispense hot melt craft glue inside the template with your craft gun and wait to dry. To avoid disappointment, we recommend waiting at least 3-5 minutes (depending on the size of your shapes) before you remove the top tec mat.

When using glue in templates such as these, it’s worth remembering that glitter glue is quite thick, so isn’t necessarily the best glue to trace with.

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