Uni Caenis fans : US source for Mucilage

[Eric Bergerud]

I did track down mucilage in the US. It's called "MiniGraphics Wallpaper Mucilage". It's used by doll house makers to attach little bits of wallpaper. Appears to be the right stuff: amber, water soluable, and very benign. It has silicon in it which, they claim, makes it easier to attach. It is available at Hobby Lobby among other places (although there it's called Wallpaper Glue, but you can see mucilage on the label). Goes for $7 for 4 oz with about the same for shipping.

I've had a jar sitting around for a while, but forgot about after my first unsuccessful encounter with Caenis. I just don't think I have the eye for Uni Caenis - I often can't see it well enough to handle and I have very good tweezers. The glue is fairly thick, but rests with an absolutely flat top which tells me it is self-levelling. Today I've been playing around Uni Caenis with the glue on a lower DD hull. As advertised, it does apply very finely and is almost invisible when dry. The immediate trouble is setting time if you're attaching the line neat at one point to another without knots. The glue grabs the line nicely, but requires a few minutes of setting before you can put any pressure on it to get a tight lay. Blue Tack or Silly Putty will hold it until it sets (a few minutes not hours or overnight). I'm sure a bit of CA would do the job too, but that would kind of defeat the point.

I'm glad I dragged it out. When I use a very simple knot, I need something to secure it. I normally use thin CA, but this might work better.
Eric

[biggles2]

How about using rubber cement very sparingly from the point of a toothpick?