A self-made birthday card and gift box are decorated with colourful, handmade paper flowers and lettering. Brush pens and craft materials lie on a wooden table all around.

Glue for artists and creatives

Do you like working with paper, are you a fan of scrapbooking or do you like making your own invitation cards? If you like to combine different materials in your DIY projects, then you will occasionally be faced with the question of which adhesive is best to use.

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Exclusive pencil case featuring 24 IROJITEN colored pencils, a sharpener, and 6 sheets of colored drawing paper.

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Tokubetsu Box Urban Lettering

Brush Pen & Fineliner

Tokubetsu Box Urban Lettering

Exclusive Urban Lettering Set featuring 1 limited-edition MONO graph lite mechanical pencil, 1 limited-edition MONO eraser, 1 ABT Dual Brush Pen, 15 gift tags for personal customization, 10 pages of Lettering Lessons, 1 postcard, and 1 gift tag...

€15.90

Learn more about the differences between glues

What types of glues are there?
Flat or pinpoint - find the right liquid glue?
Acid-free glue - what does that actually mean?
How to achieve embossing effects with liquid glue
Glue sticks - the practical and safe adhesives
All about glue rollers
Removable gluing

How well you can glue materials together also depends on their surface structure. Smooth paper and cardboard usually bond better than rough or porous surfaces. It also plays a role whether a tensile force acts on the material.

You expect a good glue to

holds the materials of your choice together reliably and permanently
is easy and clean to use
is easy to dose
Do not moisten the paper or cardboard too much so that it does not curl

There are therefore different adhesives for different materials and applications.

II particularly like using Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue for my DIY projects. I don't have to think twice because it simply glues everything together reliably. The MULTI is particularly reliable when I combine different materials.

Katharina Pasternak, DIY artist and owner of the blog Leelah loves

Depending on the application, you can choose from a range of different glues.
At Tombow you will find:

Glue Icon LiquidGlue

Liquid glues, which, depending on the tip, can be used to glue a large area or a specific point

Glue Icon GlueStick

Glue sticks, that are easy and clean to use - without the paper curling

Glue Icon GlueTape

Glue roller, with which you can glue without dripping and smearing

Flat or precise -
Find the right liquid glue for different applications

Depending on whether you are gluing a larger area or a fine line, it is practical to use glue with different sized gluing surfaces.

Tombow offers liquid glues such as MONO MULTI Liquid Glue and MONO AQUA Liquid Glue, which have two tips: a small point tip with which you can draw dots or fine lines of glue and a wide tip that is practical for gluing large areas and with which you can spread the glue well.

The AQUA is water-based and washable. This is an advantage if something does get on your clothes or upholstery when gluing. You can also use it to decorate glasses and simply wash it off if you want to try something new. It also dries transparent and is therefore suitable for transparent materials. You can use it for gluing paper, cardboard, ribbons, felt, foam rubber or photos. The liquid glue is also perfect for embossing.

Our MONO MULTI is a thicker craft glue than MONO AQUA, which is why you have to fix or hold and maintain the materials for a shorter time due to its firmer consistency, with the exception of transparent materials, as it dries out slightly milky. You can also use MONO MULTI not only for permanent bonding, but also for removable bonding. You can find out more here.

The MONO Glue Pen is the ideal addition to your desk for those who work in a very delicate way, such as scrapbooking. The glue pen applies very fine dots of glue, which you can use to stick on small pieces of paper, flowers or sequins, for example. The Glue Pen fits in your hand like a writing instrument. As the glue - similar to a biro - rolls over a ball in the tip, we recommend slow application to achieve a slightly thicker line.

Gluing tiny flowers or butterfly wings from delicate paper - that's my favourite thing to do with the Glue Pen. It's perfect to use and applies just as much glue to the fine material as I need.

Katharina Pasternak, DIY artist and owner of the blog Leelah loves

The Tombow MONO Liquid Glue MULTI is applied precisely to wooden blocks to fix photos - ideal for DIY photo gifts and wooden decorations.

Many Tombow glues are acid-free. Acid-free adhesives are particularly suitable for sensitive papers such as photos.

Glues that are not acid-free usually contain the very common methoxypropanol (also known as 1-methoxy-2-propanol). This is a solvent that is readily biodegradable and is not considered harmful to the environment. It improves the properties of the glue so that it is easier to use and enables waveless bonding, for example.

Liquid glues can also be used wonderfully for embossing effects. The result then looks similar to embossing. This works particularly well with the fine tip of the MONO AQUA Liquid Glue or with the MONO Glue Pen. To do this, apply the glue to the surface in the desired shape. Now apply embossing powder as precisely as possible over the glue line and allow the glue to dry. Sprinkle off the remaining powder by carefully shaking the object upside down. Now heat the powder with a hot embossing hairdryer until it melts - and the beautiful embossing effect is ready.

With very fine papers, a liquid glue can moisten the paper too much, causing it to make unwanted waves. A glue stick like the MONO Glue Stick is more suitable in this case. It is very easy to use. You simply brush it over the paper and join the pieces you want to glue together. In the first two minutes after you have applied the glue, you can still move the glued areas and therefore work very precisely. Working with the glue stick is particularly clean, the glue does not smear at all. When working with conventional glue sticks, the paper often curls. Furthermore, the "abrasion" is quite strong, so that small lumps of glue form. The MONO Glue Stick is alcohol-based, which means that little or no ripples form, depending on the paper. The abrasion is very thin and the glue stick is therefore economical.

Tipp: The top layer of the MONO Glue Stick is left open after production. It dries slightly and thus protects the glue. Therefore, remove the top layer of the glue stick before using it for the first time.

Another advantage of the MONO Glue Stick when you're travelling a lot: the glue stick is guaranteed not to leak in the bag.

The areas of application of glue rollers are little known, which is why the glue roller is often underestimated. In fact, the uses of the glue roller are so versatile and practical that it should not be missing in the household and among DIY tools.

When do you use a glue roller?

If you are creating photo albums or scrapbooks, it is much quicker to use a glue roller than to peel off photo stickers or photo corners individually.
Do you create your gift wrapping with great attention to detail? With the glue roller, you can even hide the glued areas between the paper.
When designing cards, you can use glue rollers to apply the transfer foil. To do this, apply the glue roller as a pattern on the paper and place the transfer foil over it. Now lightly and carefully brush over it and remove it again. The film will stick to the glue pattern - and you will achieve a great effect.
Wedding preparations are fun, but often take a lot of time. You'll be grateful for any time you can save when designing your invitations, menu cards or place cards. With the glue roller, you can glue quickly, apply easily and have no waiting time thanks to the dry glue.
Tickets or other reminders can be fixed in your journal or diary with both permanent and removable glue rollers.

The glue roller works in a similar way to the correction roller. The backing tape is covered with an adhesive layer that is applied to the paper by unrolling. But be careful: The paper should be placed correctly on the desired surface at the first attempt, as repositioning is not possible with permanent gluing using the glue roller. Dry gluing means you don't have to wait or fix the glued area as you do with liquid glues.

Conclusion: The glue roller is a useful addition to the liquid glue and glue stick.

Did you know ...

… that you can remove the dry glue from the glue roller on the backing paper as long as it has not yet been positioned? This can be easily done either with an eraser or by rubbing it off with your finger.

When gluing materials that are under tension, it is better to use liquid glue instead of a glue roller, as otherwise the glue can pull apart again. Liquid glue is also the better choice for uneven surfaces such as watercolour paper.

A glue roller is ideal, especially if you want to glue a large number of pieces, as it allows you to glue very quickly and precisely at the same time.

Katharina Pasternak, DIY artist and owner of the blog Leelah loves

In addition to permanent adhesive rollers, there are also removable adhesive rollers such as MONO Removable Adhesive. Here, the adhesive layer is applied to the paper in the same way by rolling. Once applied, the paper can be repositioned on the desired surface. This allows you to create your own individual and personalised sticky notes.

The right amount of glue is crucial to ensure that your personalised sticky note sticks. The easiest way to do this is to use the amount of glue on conventional sticky notes and sticky notes in relation to the overall size of the paper as a model.

When working creatively, there are many little tricks that make the work easier. When gluing, for example, the question is whether you should coat both parts that you are gluing together with the glue. And when is the best time to let the glue dry - before or after joining.

The picture shows the Tombow MONO Liquid Glue MULTI, a versatile liquid glue with two tips: a fine tip for precise gluing and a wide tip for larger areas. The green and white packaging emphasises its versatility for paper, cardboard and other materials.

Removable gluing:

1. apply a thin layer of glue.
2. allow the glue to dry completely (2-3 min.).
3. bring the glued surfaces together and reposition as required.

Permanent gluing:

1 Apply a thin layer of glue.
2 Bring the glued surfaces together while the glue is still wet.
3. allow the glue to dry completely (2-3 min.).

It's best to try out the glue before you start your actual work. Then you will already have practice and know how the glue behaves on your material. This will allow you to realise your creative project perfectly.

Have fun - and stay creative.