Hawid Glue Pen

Went to the local stamp store and got a Hawid Glue Pen. I'm going insane trying to make a nice weld that's straight.

Is there some trick to getting since straight weld that's perpendicular to the edge of the mount?

I've never used a Hawid glue pen, although it's always been on my list of things to get.

You need a straight edge, so you may have to sacrifice a cheap clear plastic ruler (10c-25c). An alternative is to create a stencil with a perpendicular slit. If you have one of those metal eraser shields that draftsmen used to use (OK, I go way back), that might work as well -- although they aren't as cheap as the plastic rulers).

Aside from the straight/perpendicular problem, has the glue pen worked out for you? Like I said, I've wanted to get one for a long time.

Oh yeah. The glue pen worked great. I just bought a small framer's square and I'm going to give that a try.

The Framer's Square didn't help much The line is straight, just not perfectly perpendicular to the edge of the mount. But it's close enough that you can't really tell once you cut the mount. It's just too easy for the mount to shift of the ruler to move. I may need to construct something to hold the mount snug while you run the glue pen over it.

Try sticking a post-it note to the mount as a mask. Don't use too much glue - a thin, flat line is enough.

Terry

Edit for typo. TC.

Take a look at the picture in the link below. Apparenly there used to be a device to do the job (no longer made?). Maybe it will give you an idea on how to fabricate a tool.

http://matildascheapsupplies.com/it...n-detail.htm

I think the pen may still come with the ruler. I bought the pen from the local stamp store as an open box item. He had a couple of loose ones on the shelf.

Maybe use a 6" metal rule. This should not be affected by the adhesive as a plastic rule might. Easier to clean, too.

Terry

That metal "thing" that used to come with the pen (as shown at that link above) is very helpful. It has a little notch in it that let's you easily limit the width of glue you're laying down. I never understood why, but a metal straight-edge just did not do quite as good a job, although it was still very adequate, if you can't find that little device.

When I was actively collecting Japan and putting them in an album, I think I can say that I mastered this technique, because I did not like excessively broad margins on mounts and wanted them to look finished and professional. I think it's easy to get good at this pretty quickly (just practice on some scrap items first). Also, I found the small Showguard cutter worked better than a paper cutter, but this was before scrapbooking became popular, and I think the overall quality of cutters improved.

I realize the illustration at that link above was to show how to seal the top of a Hawid mount, but, with any split-back mount, I would definitely not have the stamp in the mount while doing this.

Oh, I just remembered: before trimming the top (or bottom, if that's your choice) of the mount, I wrapped a small post-it around the mount (mostly favoring the end about to be cut), so that it would hold the front and back sides of the mount together while trimming and gluing. That way the front side always remained aligned with the back at the cut side until it got glued and had dried.

-- Dave

If you wanted to make a metal straight edge that would work like the one pictured in the old ad (above) I would suggest going to Home Depot or Lowes or Hobby Lobby and finding aluminum stock that has a "C" or "V" shaped cross-section. The "V" shaped stuff would work great without any modification. The "C" shape might have to be carefully bent. I've seen some pretty small stuff in all three of the stores I mentioned that would work well with the glue pen and a mounts.

When I am resizing a mount, the first thing I do is tape the split back together with a piece of painters tape made for sensitive surfaces. Then I mark where I want to trim the mount (which includes enough space to glue the edges together), remove the stamp and trim the mount. Now I have a mount that is the right size and has parallel edges. I then use the glue pen guide and glue the pieces together. I now have a mount that fits my stamp or souvenir sheet. I am lucky in that I purchased a guide as illustrated in the above mentioned link. The guide keeps the top piece out of the way while you use the glue pen and allows you to apply the proper width glue line.