Sometimes, I just need to play with scissors and glue. I recently upgraded both my scissors and my glue stick so I thought I’d share my results.
I had the matte black Allex S-165F Office Scissors with Fluorine Coating($18.50) in my cart on JetPens for eons and I finally decided to buy them. Their most notable feature is that glue and other sticky substances will not stick to the blades. The insides of the holes for your fingers are lined with silicone for a softer grip. This makes it more comfortable for long collage sessions. Even Bob, whose hands are much bigger than mine, has commented that he likes using these scissors for day-to-day cutting in the studio.
So far I haven’t gotten a lot of glue or stickiness on the scissors but they are light, well-balanced and cut cleanly. The blades are sharp!
The glue stick I purchased is the Kokuyo Gloo. I purchased the medium Gloo stick in disappearing blue ($4 per sick). I was enticed by the simple clean design on the outside of the tube. The Gloo sticks have a slightly wider end that makes it easier to stand them on one end. Everything about the Kokuyo GLoo stick in terms of performance is pretty consistent with a lot of other brands on the market. The square shape makes getting into corners a little easier.
The confusing part for me is that the glue end is the one with wider cap end which is different from almost every other brand I’ve used so I kept trying to pull the twist end off. “Turn the square end, pull the round end off.”
The smell of this Gloo stick is mild but a little sweet. It’s definitely not chemically or offensive but might not be suitable around small children who might eat glue because it smells pretty nice. Way better than Elmer’s glue.
So, if you’re itching to do a little creative paper cutting, these tools are a great start. I have been watching some of Lisa Congdon’s Creative Boot Camp – Six Exercises to Spark Artistic Discovery on Creativebug and it features a lot of collage and papercutting if you want to try collage but need a jumping off point.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Art Supply Party….let’s have one someday!!