I just came across this very useful site called “This to That”. It’s a very simple, useful site for figuring out how to stick any two things together.
Now that I am knee-deep in preparing for my upcoming exhibition of handmade and altered books, I am always looking for good ways to stick things together that are non-toxic. I found lots of good suggestions for products that are new to me as well as some interesting trivia, such as:
Did you know that the famous cow on Elmer’s glue products actually has a name? She is Elsie, the spouse of Elmer the bull who the company is named after.
Elsie was an interesting cow in her own right. Initially she was the inspiration for a cartoon of a laughing cow. Her fame increased significantly after her appearance at the 1939 New York World’s Fair which resulted in her image being used on many familiar products, including Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk and Borden Cheese products.
Beeswax has also been used as a reliable, waterproof adhesive since Roman times. Traditionally it was mixed together with pine wood tar and was strong enough for us in shipbuilding.
In ancient times, the gold leaf used in decorative gilding was made by placing gold nuggets between the outside membrane of the large intestine of an Ox and then hammering them flat. This gold leaf was then attached to paper or plaster with egg whites – the same adhesive that is still used today!
In closing, I can think of no better way to kick-start the creative process then by laughing. Enjoy this clip from YouTube.
Very nice to see your blog, from monkey-land (Indonesia). I have seven monkeys – one of them rode a bicycle with me 15km to work today. She’s out in a tree and it’s getting dark, but she doesn’t worry. She knows we’re going to ride back home again. So she goes ahead and destroys more leaves and branches (monkeys are supremely DESTRUCTIVE – like us).
I was looking for Elsie the cow, to show one of my Indonesian co-workers. That’s how I found you.
So long from Jakarta…
bb