What glues do you use to make puppets with?

I thought it was about time I rewrote this article as my original one is no longer as up-to-date as I’d like it to be. I’ve not only listed the various common glues that I and other puppeteers use, but also added in a little bit about figuring out what glue to use with what materials. Sometimes you may not know what glue you need, so I’ve got a great suggestion for working that out. And there’s quite a bit on glues for foam as well.

My ‘glue arsenal’. Left to right, and top row to bottom: hot glue gun, Selley’s PVA Wood Glue, Craft Smart ‘tacky craft glue’ (aka PVA), Craft Smart spray adhesive, Mod Podge, Foam Glue, Elmer’s Ultimate, Liquid Glue stick, hot glue sticks, Selley’s ‘quick fix’ epoxy super glue.

Instead of listing one or two recommendations for foam puppets, which is all most people think about when talking about glues, I thought I’d discuss a whole range. The reason? Because puppets can be anything and be built any number of ways and use any number of materials. We puppeteers don’t have a single brand of glue at our workspaces, we have a range: each for a different purpose. So let’s go through them, using my batch of glues as an example.

Before we begin: always use any glues in a well-ventilated area and follow any safety advice given by the manufacturer. Some glues may be toxic or have other harmful effects. Where possible I list non-toxic glues, but even then… please be careful!

A good tip brought up by Kelvin in the comments is to leave the glue to dry a bit before attaching the pieces of your material together. This allows the glue to get a little stickier and makes the process of attaching your materials together easier; reducing the need for pins or other temporary ways of keeping the pieces joined during the drying process.

Super glue

I use an epoxy (2 part) super glue. I don’t really have a favourite brand, but super glue is useful for those jobs where you absolutely need things to stick together no matter what. Mainly I use this bonding agent when attaching wires to dowel handles (for rods on puppets). There are obviously other uses for it, but this is the biggest reason I have for keeping a couple of tubes handy.

PVA or Elmer’s glue

PVA as it’s known in Australia is a white glue with a slightly watery appearance that dries clear. Over the years I’ve not found Elmer’s glue, but know it’s an American brand that is basically the same thing. PVA can be used for most anything, and is often used for crafts in general. You can glue papers, (some) plastics, fabric, wood, and so on. It’s very strong and usually takes an hour or more to dry.

Wood glue

Surprisingly, the above link to Wikipedia for PVA suggests that this is also the same thing as wood glue. I’ve never used one instead of the other, so I have a bottle of wood glue as well. As the name suggests, wood glue is for bonding two pieces of wood products together. I often use this to temporarily attach wood together and then hammer in a few nails where necessary. Wood glue is extremely strong though most take an hour or more to dry and may take 24 hours or more to completely bond. 

Craft glue stick

Most of us have used or seen these in classrooms. They’re pen-like tubes of clear glue. These I use mostly for working with paper or cardboard when making shadow puppets. The glue is not very durable or strong, and so I use it sparingly when I simply want a temporary bond in preparation for another step in the build. I discovered this is the best glue when working with lamination devices. The machines get very hot and if glues or paints are not perfectly dry, it can severely ruin both the object you’re laminating and the machine itself (see what happened when I tried here). Other glues take a while to dry, but these glue sticks dry in minutes. Making them perfect for those who want to laminate in a rush. 

Spray glues

I have to admit that while this is still in my ‘glue arsenal’, I don’t like spray glues. It must be the ones they sell in Australia because I’ve never found one that works well. However, many puppeteers I know use them, so I’ll explain a bit about them here anyway: they can be used much like PVA or a glue stick, in that they work for a variety of fabrics, plastics and other things. Why I don’t like them much is because: 

• They stink up the place and require lots of ventilation (compared to the other above suggestions for which I have never found to be smelly or require more ventilation than normal)
• They don’t last long - even a few minutes

Spray glues can be useful for temporary bonding, but not much else as far as I’m concerned.

Mod podge

Not strictly a glue, but I’m putting it here anyway. Mod Podge is a product that’s used in decoupage, but I heard about it first - and a lot - by American puppeteers. Last year I found some while looking for something to use with shadow puppet materials. Mod Podge can be used as a finisher and sealer (it does have ‘glue’ properties, but works best as a sealant) and is water based, and so the product works on a variety of fabric, paper and other materials. I’ve used it minimally on fabrics and found it to be a pretty amazing sealant, giving a glossy soft finish. This product would be ideal for puppets using papier mache like marionettes or rod puppets. For those looking for more info, you can try searching the archives of Puptcrit as there are a couple of old discussions there about Mod Podge and its uses. Australians can find Mod Podge at Riot Art.

Hot glue

Many puppeteers begin with hot glue. I know I did. But as with many beginners, I soon grew out of it (my preferred glues for foam are listed further below). Hot glue is preferred by some because the glue dries instantly and works well with foam. However it has many drawbacks: 

• It can melt under longterm high heat (ie. if the puppet is sitting in your car for long periods of time and getting lots of direct sunlight), although it’s not instantaneous it does happen over time
• It is a dangerous tool, especially around kids or pets. And anyone using it. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve burned myself on the glue or the gun
• Some of the guns you can find don’t include a trigger. I had an old one like this, and let me tell you the danger goes up a notch without one. No trigger meant I had to push the stick of glue into the gun as it melted and as I applied it to my material; meaning your fingers are usually going to be touching the hot parts of the gun in order to get it to work. You also lose dexterity as you’re holding the gun steady and pushing the glue and keeping the material still on the table. If you use hot glue, make sure the gun has a trigger!
• It does leave seams of glue which are tough and ‘gluggy’, kind of like using a cement filler to patch a wall
• Here in Australia, it’s pretty expensive. I found myself using $30-40 (AUD) of glue sticks to make a single foam puppet, and that’s not including the $12 or so for the gun itself. Whereas I now use a $6-7 bottle of contact cement (see below) per puppet. A considerable difference in price!

Despite these objections, many puppeteers do use hot glue, but it’s not my preference and generally I keep it aside for prototypes or anything I don’t much care about doing ‘properly’. Sometimes I will use it to daub on the ends of wires, as it makes for a tough and thick cover for pointy ends - especially useful as a glob of hot glue can be quickly and easily removed with a pair of needle-nose pliers, and I often use it to attach puppet hands to their arms. To un/dress a puppet or repair it, it’s often advisable to be able to remove hands or other body parts to make the process easier. Using hot glue for these situations is ideal as the bond is quick to set, pretty durable and easy to remove.

Comparison test of foam glues. Top clockwise: Elmer’s with the yellowish seam; Foam Glue with the white seam; hot glue with clear seam.

"Foam glue", Green contact cement, Crafter’s Pick Ultimate

I mention these both because I’ve never ever found Green contact cement or Crafter’s Pick in an Australian store, though I’ve heard it recommended many many time by American puppeteers. So for the moment, consider "Foam Glue" to be the Australian equivalent. Kelvin left a comment about Barge Glue, which is also loved by puppeteers - yet another product I’ve not seen locally - and while searching for info discovered that is also loved by Mythbusters, among others.

Both of these products are non-toxic, non-smelling glues. Foam Glue is actually the brand name, produced by Helmar. Aussies can find it in Riot Art or Spotlight, and the bottles cost about $6-7 each (Helmar recently changed their website and you can now also buy it online from them). You’ll notice it has a picture of a marionette on the label . Foam Glue is similar to PVA in that it is quite liquidy, and is white but dries clear. It takes about an hour for a strong bond to develop, but within minutes it’s dry enough to a tough stickiness. In fact, it’s so strong that I often use Foam Glue instead of PVA because it works on just about anything.

Now I’d recently discovered bottles of Elmer’s glue in my local arts and craft store, and never having tried it I decided to do a comparison test of three glues: my beloved Foam Glue; Elmer’s; and hot glue. I took a piece of foam and cut it into six strips, gluing two each with a different glue. I then left it to dry and came back after 24 hours to see how they held up. I didn’t use pins to hold the pieces together but instead left them to sit as is. (For curved foam sheets I would normally pin them together) Here’s a ‘just glued’ pic, where you can see the bottles of glue next to their respective pieces of foam (top clockwise: Elmer’s with the yellowish seam; Foam Glue with the white seam; hot glue with clear seam). Here are the results:

• Foam Glue: dried clear and strong with a very flexible seam that was invisible.
• Elmer’s: dried yellow with pockets of bubbles, but the seam was stronger than the Foam Glue and just as flexible.
• Hot glue: dried clear with pockets of bubbles (the Elmer’s had bubbles in the glue itself, this was more like areas where the glue did not attach to the foam itself), with the weakest seam and less flexibility

(Flexibility is important in puppet making as it allows the materials to move with the puppeteer and greater expressiveness) All in all I’d still go with the Foam Glue, as yellow bubbly bonds - even strong ones - is probably not the best. If someone can find me a good bottle of Green’s contact cement, then let me know and I’ll comparison test that as well.

More suggestions

Some more suggestions for glues can also be found here. Some more discussion can also be found at Terrible Comfort.

But how do you know what glues to use with what materials? Other than the obvious trial-and-error method or reading the label on the product, you can use the website This To That. On that site you can choose from a range of options two materials that you’d like to glue together. The site then calculates what glues would work best and gives you a bunch of brand names as suggestions. The site also has rudimentary explanations of what certain glues are and how they work. It’s really easy to use and one of those sites you just have to bookmark.

This post AKA what kind of glue to glue a foam head puppet, AKA how to use spray glue with foam puppets