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Cosplay 101: Adhesives
This is meant as a beginner primer for adhesives (that we use [enough to know a bit about {mostly}]). This is meant as an outline that covers the general details of each kind of adhesive. The links direct to the wikipedia page on the adhesive if you want to know more about the full details.
Cyanoacrylate: CA glue for shorthand, aka Superglue or krazyglue. However, if something is marketed as a super/krazyglue and doesn’t contain cyanoacrylate, it’s not a CA glue. This is our go-to glue. It’s strong, but a bit brittle and can melt the crap out of some materials.
Pros:
Strong
Widely available
Cleans up with acetone nicely
Can glue most things together (EVA foam, paper, styrene all work well)
Many consistencies available (thin, thick, gel)
Quick dry/cure time, can be quickened with CA accelerante
Can be mixed with baking soda for an effective gap filler (CA cement)
Safe to use on EVA foam
Readily available anywhere that sells adhesives
Cons:
Fumes/strong smell, ventilation and/or a respirator required if working with large amounts of CA glue
Brittle and non-flexible
Melts polystyrene (EPS/XPS foam aka Styrofoam)
Fumes can leave cloudy residue
Rapid exothermic reaction with leather, cotton, and wool that can cause burns and even fire
Shelf life of about a year unless kept somewhere dark and cool (like the fridge)
Polyvinyl Acetate: Also known as white glue or Elmer’s glue. Useful but a bit basic and requires open evaporation.
Pros:
Pretty safe, just don’t straight-up drink it or rub it into your eyes or nose
Great for paper and other open structure materials (fabric, some open-cell foams)
Widely available
Water-soluble
Inexpensive
Readily available anywhere that sells adhesives
Cons:
Relatively weak and brittle when cured
Needs open-air evaporation to dry
Water-soluble
Long dry/cure time
Gorilla Glue: We’ve used this one a few times and it seems to work fairly well
Pros:
Strong bond
Non-solvent, won’t melt things most of the time (stable with XPS foam)
Readily available anywhere that sells adhesives
Cons:
Needs clamping/pressure to cure properly
Long cure time
Expands during cure process, can squirt/drool out of joint (might be a good thing too, though)
E6000: A strong and flexible glue, great for fabrics or gluing things to fabrics.
Pros:
Very flexible, can hold up to a little stretching even
Strong bond with a bit of surface sanding
Can glue many kinds of things together (EVA foam, fabric, styrene, paper, leather all work well)
Dries clear (though air bubbles and edges can be visible)
Readily available anywhere that sells adhesives
Cons:
Solvent-based, will eat through polystyrene, pretty pungent smell
Long cure time
Can smear easily during curing
May ooze out of the tube and glue the cap to itself (plies might be required to unscrew the cap if this happens)
JB Weld: An incredibly strong 2-part epoxy. I use this a lot to strengthen a mechanical joint.
Pros:
Incredibly strong, can be used to join engine parts together
Fairly shock resistant
Works great on most surfaces
You can drill, tap, sand and carve it once fully cured
Cons:
Very long cure time, about 24 hours
Not flexible at all
Requires a very good joint and a lot of surface prep
Can be brittle under torsion
Needs more cleanup than single-part adhesives
2-part Epoxy: This is a massive group of adhesives so I’m only going to mark the basics
Pros/Cons:
Strong
Cure time can vary from a few minutes to days
Needs more cleanup than single-part adhesives
Ranges from glass-hard to pretty flexible after it cures
Hot-melt adhesive (aka Hot glue): A craft standard and fairly material-safe way to adhere things together.
Pros:
Works on everything that doesn’t melt or [easily] catch fire
Fairly strong with a good joint surface
Pretty safe if you don’t touch the nozzle or glue while it’s hot
Safe to use on polystyrene
Great for EVA foam armor/props
Inexpensive
Glue itself can be versatile and used for filling molds.
Glue sticks can come in a variety of colors
Cons:
Can be a bit messy, nozzle keeps leaking sometimes and leaves threads of hot glue everywhere
May be visible under thinner materials if the glue isn’t smoothed out
Can straight-up melt or ignite some materials (spot test or look up the melting point of the material)
May be only semi-permanent in some cases, depending on the surfaces
Can melt when exposed to heat (don’t leave pieces glued together with hot glue in a hot car)
Contact cement: An adhesive that is applied to both surfaces, allowed to dry, then pressed together. Barge and Weldwood (US) are brands commonly used in cosplay. Rubber cement is not a contact cement.
Pros:
Very strong, practically permanent once bonded together
Great for EVA foam armor/props (the main go-to for a lot of foamsmiths)
Cons:
Fumes require ventilation and/or a respirator
Requires a ready supply of brushes for application
Shelf life up three months to a year depending on storing conditions. Throw away if the cement begins to set up in the container
Melts polystyrene
Cures in 5-10 minutes, but EVA foam may require a second coat due to its tendency to absorb materials