Each month I try to remove a few more plastic-free habits from our lives. This half-term marks the end of the helpful glue stick as we finished off our very last one. It’s always been a helpful thing to have around for kids - but happy to say we won’t EVER buy another and hope this helps you to say goodbye to them too.
This half-term we tried and perfected a couple of home-made glue recipes whilst the process was a fun and interesting activity in itself. Here are our recipes - feel free to download them for free over on our downloadable section (available soon).
Potato Starch Glue - using potato
Perfect for potatoes that are a bit too old to cook with, don’t use the fresh and tasty ones - they are better cooked and on a plate!
Grate approximately 3 tablespoons of potato in a bowl adding a tablespoon of water and leave for around 10 minutes when the starch will be released. Squeeze and sieve the starchy water into a pan and add a teaspoon of water and start to heat. It’s important to keep watch and turn it off when it starts to thicken - if you leave it any longer it solidifies a too much and is hard to use.
This is ready to use as soon as it is cool. And yes, the pale pinky/yellowish colour is normal - it will dry like that so maybe best not to use it on white card.
This glue is surprisingly strong for arts and crafts but don’t make a huge batch unless you are going to use it, if it’s left in a jar to spoil it will one day surprise you by releasing one of the worst smells ever smelt in the history of kitchens.
Potato Starch Glue - using potato starch powder
(You can buy this in a paper bag and is really easy to use - it also dries clear)
1sp potato flour + 1/2 cup water = paper mache paste
1tbsp potato flour + ½ cup water = thicker glue (remember to take off the heat the second it thickens!)
Add the required quantity of starch to water and heat in a pan - again it’s important to keep watch and turn it off when it starts to thicken - if you leave it any longer it solidifies a too much and is hard to use.
This glue is brilliant - strong and clear, just like the real stuff but without the plastic. Hurrah!