Picking out Adhesives

While I am waiting for the paste papers to dry, it seems like a good time to talk glue.  I'm going to try not to use too many puns in this post, but I will have a hard time sticking to that.  And so it begins...

Alright, so there are a bunch of adhesives out there and they are all geared for different applications.  Honestly, you can get through most projects with just a few things.  This is my wonder team:

The wood glue is self explanatory.  It is for wood.  In all seriousness though, it is pretty great.  When it dries, it holds as strong as a nail.

The ATG gun and ATG tape are fabulous.  I use this for all my present wrapping and for assembling invitations.  It is a very sticky pressure adhesive that will hold many different materials AND you can rub off extra bits of this tape, like you would with rubber cement.  Really good stuff.

The bag of flour is going to become paste.  Paste is reversible.  That is its main selling point.  It will hold delicate things together and you can soak it off if you want to undo the process.  I mostly use it for paste papers, decoupage, and lining documents for conservation/restoration.

And now my favorite: PVA.  Polyvinyl acetate is just essential.  It is water based, archival, dries clear and flexible, sticks to just about everything, and you can reactivate it after it is dry with heat.  Many commercial branded adhesives and decoupage products are PVA based.  For instance, if you wanted to make up collage medium (a very popular product) it is just PVA mixed with an acrylic gel.  You can mix this up yourself way cheaper than buying it.  PVA is often marketed as bookbinding glue.  This is the main glue that I use for bookbinding and art making. 

You can get ATG products at many places.  I tend to buy mine through Blick and just wait until they are having one of their crazy sales.  I can tell you from personal experience that this tape becomes less sticky after it has been sitting around on the roll unused for a few years.  So don't buy a life time supply in one go.
http://www.dickblick.com/
It can be expensive to buy PVA unless you are getting it in large quantities.  I get it from Talas.  They sell PVA as 'Jade' and I use their 'Jade 403' formulation.  It should be noted that they also give you a more concentrated glue (less added water) than other suppliers.  I also get my paste ingredients from Talas.
http://www.talasonline.com/
Wood glue is from wherever it is cheapest.  Or just purchased in the middle of an emergency.