My stash.
Spring is in the air, and glitter glue is on my projects. There is something about a change in seasons that brings out the embellisher in me. Glitter glue is a favorite of mine, and I have always wondered if there was really much difference between the expensive, scrapbooking-specific stuff like Stickles and the cheap stuff you find at the dollar store or in the "kiddie craft" aisle. So, I decided to do a head-to-head comparison of several different glitter glues to see if the extra money I spent on my scrapbook-specific glitter glue was really worth it.
I have been using Martha Stewart glitter glue since I caught the glitter glue bug about a year ago. I bought a four-pack of bright metallic colors, and I have used those with great success on my projects. So, for the sake of my test, I added to my supply pretty considerably with a 12-pack of more translucent, pastel shades from Martha Stewart, some Distress Stickles from Ranger, bottles of Studio G glitter glue, a set of glitter glue pens from the Target dollar spot, and a set of Creatology glitter glue pens from the kiddy craft aisle at Michael's. I also dug up some old dollar store glitter glue that I had bought a long time ago, but had never had much success getting out of the bottle in usable form.
I know, I know. I am such a diligent blogger, buying all of that glitter glue just for this test.
The sacrifices I make for my art ;-)
I attempted to devise a test for the performance of the glue by using similar colors from a variety of the glitter glues to create a comparison chart. I also used a representative sample of the glues on different parts of a stamped image. They all really look pretty good in person, but have you ever tried to photograph glitter? Ugh. So for some of this, you might just have to take my word when I describe some of the differences. First, I tested gold- my old standby. The Martha Stewart Florentine Gold (MSFG) is the glue I use most often in my crafting.
This difference I noted right away was the size of the applicator tip. On the MSFG bottle, the tip is very fine, allowing for pinpoint application of the glue. All of the others had wider tips, and they were just much clumsier to use when writing or drawing. To be fair to the Stickles, the pachage did say the Distress Stickles had a wide tip to accommodate the specific antiquing functions they made this kind of glitter glue for. Martha Stewart, Craftology, and Stickles all had bright, full color glitter, with the Martha Stewart and the Stickles having the highest degree of opacity. The dollar store glue, per usual, was a watery mess, and I pretty much had to smear it on the page.
Next, I went for greens. The results were pretty similar- The Martha Stewart product was easiest to apply, followed by the Craftology, with the Studio G being the hardest. All of them had nice color and sparkle once dry, but the Craftology started out looking like glitter suspended in clear liquid.
After that, I went for blues. The Martha Stewart was by far the easiest to apply in both the pastel and the metallic shade. The Target glue almost looked like toothpaste with glitter in it when I put it on- which was kinda cool- but after it dried, it lost that translucent effect and flattened out.
Finally, I tried a stamped image. I outlined the peach in Martha Stewart, colored the leaf in with Studio G, used target on the top writing, and Craftology on the bottom writing.
My final verdict? If you want control, the Martha Stewart is best. Stickles may be great for control with its regular applicator top- I'll have to check that out. The Martha Stewart is also nice and thick without being clotty, so you get nice dimension. The Stickles is a rich, saturated color, and only slightly less thick than the Martha Stewart. The Studio G has good glitter saturation, but is harder to get out of the bottle. The Craftology and Target glues have a little less glitter saturation on application, but dry to a decent saturation. However, they both flatten out considerably when they do. If you are going to do large areas, or smear the glue around once its on the page, any of the cheaper glues would be fine. Well, almost any of them. The dollar store glue was just epic fail, all around. It was clumpy in the bottle, watery on the page, and had low glitter saturation. The only application I found it worthy for was this:
Cost is definitely a factor, too. I got all of my MS glue on sale, but a 12 pack assortment of small vials like the one I have runs about $15 regularly, and the four .5 oz bottle pack around $5- when you can find it. The Stickles usually run around $1.50- $2.00 per .3 oz. bottle, or $4-5 per three pack. Studio G is $1 per bottle. The Craftology glue was $3 per five pen assortment, while the Target pens were cheapest at a four pack for $1. While you get what you pay for, I'm not opposed to using the $1 glue on projects where precision or dimension aren't a factor.
I feel like what I really need to do is get some more glitter glue, so I can try it all again (^-^)
