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Hey everyone. I have an idea for a present for my dear wife's birthday, but I need a bit of a hand. She is very proud of her garden and flowers so I'm going to take a few shots of the flowers in the morning, print them out, laminate them and then glue them to some placemats and coasters. My question is what glue would be best to use? The placemat is a smooth kind of I guess thin shiny layer of plastic or maybe like contact?

Would applying a thin layer of pva glue evenly spread do the job I'm after?

Cheers,
Owen.

Stuff that I'll be your wife if you buy me a 70-200VR (my g/f would be upset but she only bought me a 50 1.4)

actually there is a craft where you lay the pictures down and use a special varnish / plastic stuff to paint over the top.

Look up decoupage on google.

Owen, I think PVA glue may eventually stain the photo. I've just bought a spray glue from bunnings for $6.95 which is meant to be good for photos. mind you I bought it for use on sponge and it was useless but that's another story.

Edit: Oops, sorry Owen I just re read your post and noticed the laminated part, the photo glue woundn't be any good for you either.

Thanks guys. Justin, sorry mate but your taste is too expensive for me. My wife gets $7 placemats from Go Lo.

The picture will be laminated, do you think that pva would still stain it?

Owen PVA is not meant for the purpose you have in mind. Check the uses on the label. I am pretty sure it is primarily used as a wood glue. When my father used to use it he wood wipe the excess off before it dried and then sand the glued section prior to applying stains and lacquer. It main stain your piccies!
Best suggestion would be to go to a craft store and buy a suitable product.
I may be wrong though as I am talking about pva glue as used when I was but a lad (many years ago).
Cheers, Mick

I'm not sure what glue they use in decoupage, the ex-mother in law was an expert she just used to use magazine cuttings and they'd be fine years later. Not in a position to give her a call unfortunately....

from a quick google PVA seems fairly common but suggest you have a look here are some links

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/decoup ... 12201a.htm

this is an ozzie link and she has a pdf for you!

http://www.tribal.net.au/~decoupage/decoupage.html

OK - if you laminate the photos and are gluing them to a plastic coaster then you will need a glue that is good for plastics. This can be quite complicated as some plastics do not adhere well with certain glues. Better get more specific info on the plastics and seek further help. Doesn't necessarily mean you need a more expensive glue - just need to find the right glue.

Thanks Justin and Oscar.

The pdf document suggests using a mixture of pva and clag, but I might head out tomorrow to see what I can find at the craft shops.

Thanks for the help.

One link I saw suggested clear wood varnish e.g. estapol on top after gluing the photos

Owen, how about some one like these guys:

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Coopoz-Person ... -Keepsakes


***** CAPTURE THE MOMENT ***** Your Favourite PHOTOS &/or TEXT printed to Mugs,Tee-shirts,Plates, Tote bags,Mousemats, Placemats, Coasters, Beer steins, ID & Business Cards, Badges, Buttons, Calendars,Jigsaw Puzzles, and lots more. Have a look at my bargain basement "CHEAP AS CHIPS" category


I don't think your wife could resist a nice flower photo on a beer stein

yeah, you can get just about anything tranferred to cups, mousemats and other assorted crap.
We do it at work over here. Most trophy shops have some kind of sublimation equipment as they push it pretty hard at all the trade shows.

these guys distribute the inks and printers, you could give them a call and ask who they supply in your area.
http://www.novasublimation.com.au/home.htm

Thanks guys. I only came up with the idea yesterday, the birthday is tomorrow, so I'm leaving it a bit late. I might give her a rough draft as a gift and if she likes it I'll look at doing a more permenant job maybe?

Anyway thanks for the ideas.