hermanntrude wrote:have u tried methyl cellulose? it seems like it might just dissolve in an alcohol,,, long shot though.
Hmm, there's a thought, if pure IPA doesn't work, maybe a mix with water would.
In any case, there's also the acrylic and urethane adhesives, but those are going to be a major hassle to work with. Folding with gloves just doesn't work.
i had another thought, although your mix with water is good for dissolving things u will find that the IPA evaporates leaving the water behind. IPA and water don't form any useful azeotropes
... maybe another alcohol though... the most polar is methanol (i tend to think of it as half a water attached to some irrelavent carbon), and so most likely to work... although it's a little toxic... just dont drink it. and then there's our old friend ethanol.. also toxic but allowed since we all pay stupid amounts of tax on it... best thing is meths.. it's a mix of both, and cheap... both more polar than IPA, and a better solvent all around too, since IPA has a lot of steric hindrance.
I think solvents aren't the main issue, since it's usually possible to find something that works. The problem is finding a suitable adhesive that can be redissolved several times; I'm trying to avoid water-based ones (like methyl cellulose) since these will tend to reabsorb water if you leave it lying around in a humid environment. Seeing your painstakingly crafted model wet-unfold itself is really quite depressing.
so almost certainly a polymer then. maybe a man-made one, as u were suggesting PVA or PVAc, both of which are likely to be less hygroscopic than methyl cellulose. or as you say go for a non-water-soluble polymer in a different solvent. i've never tried it but maybe something totally the other end of the scale like polystyrene in toluene (boiling point of 110 but evaporates faster than water) or an acrylic polymer in something like DCM, chloroform, etc... or if you had a really low Mn you could use methanol, maybe
I have just applied some diluted white glue on a sheet of tissue paper. I bought an acrylic board just for that. Now I anxiously wait for it to get dry so that I can fold something out of it. I thinking of folding Robert Lang´s Tarantula from OI2, or Brian Chan´s Dobsonfly as they demand very thin paper.
wolf wrote:Glue will work, yes; typically you don't use it full strength, but dilute it 1:1 with water. Alternatively, you could try starch - wheat starch is strongest although others can be used as well, but these tend to end up as bugfood after a while.
What about corn starch? Will it work?
Is there anything else in my kitchen that might work?
Cornstarch will work, yes. You can try out other starches in your kitchen, most of them should work to some degree or other - eg tapioca starch, potato starch.
I tried 1:1 white glue & water on tissue paper & a deli sandwich wrapper, but I really didn't notice a useful difference.
This still sounds really cool though so I'm going to hunt down a different product to mix with the water.
It depends on the paper. If the paper has long, strong fibres, these are less likely to crack, so they probably won't show a fault line when it's unfolded and dunked in PVA. With short, weak-fibred paper, the crease line will always be visible.
and hang it somewhere else, that what i see people doing
