Silicone Glue, Opinions Please!

I was recently introduced to silicone glue. Originally I was super reluctant to use it for 2 main reasons.

1. I hate getting sticky fingers when I'm crafting.

2. It's stupidly expensive (or so I believed).

I gave it a whirl though and I've come up with some of my own ideas and tips, as well as some information I got from other crafters which was really useful.

Tip 1

Use sparingly. It's quite heavy stuff so if you apply too much to your card it can make it unbalanced. I had one of my first decoupage cards I did using silicone be so front heavy that it wouldn't stand up! You really only need little dabs on the outer edges, the centres seem to hold up ok on their own if you use high quality decoupage sheets.

Tip 2

Beware seepage. If you use it to stick buttons of gems you really only need the tiniest amount. Any more than than and it all oozes out. This can make a huge mess on your card!

Tip 3

Watch your fingers. The type I use is quite stringy, so if you get it on your fingers it can go all over (this was one reason why I was reluctant to try it out in the first place). Even better, use an applicator tip.

Tip 4

Buy odourless. The first tube I bought was really stinky, even after it dried. I would hate to receive a stinky card!

Tip 5

When you're done using the tube for the day, make sure the lid is on tight and if you're using an applicator push out a little extra glue and let it dry in the tip. Next time you use it, just pull out the dry part and hey presto, clear tip. (A lady at the GNPE told me this, thank you!)

Generally I think it's a good product. It's flexible, so you can move layers around for a while after you have laid them down and I found you can also put bigger blobs on one part than another to make a layer less 'horizontal'. Price wise, it seems expensive, but you actually get a lot of use out of one tube, and I'd say that it's comparable if not slightly cheaper than buying 3D foam squares. Its also much quicker and easier than the 3D foam pads, and less fiddly as there is no peeling!

What are your experiences with 3D work and attaching plastic/ foam embellishments, and do you have any top crafting tips?