How to Make Your Own Glue

So you are in your house doing something and you realise that you need some glue desperately. Problem is, there isn’t any around. Don’t panic though as there is a simple and effective way to make your own glue; here’s how.

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• Mix 7 tablespoons of skimmed milk with a tablespoon of vinegar.
• Add it to a saucepan.
• Heat gently until the milk curdles, turn the heat off.
• With the use of a paper towel, carefully drain the liquid from the saucepan.
• Mix in some bicarbonate of soda into the mixture and mix well.

It really is as simple as that. Home-made glue. At this point, leave the mixture to cool down a bit before applying to whatever it is you need glued (caution: not really the strongest glue ever invented but will hold small things together, especially paper)

How it works: Basically it comes down to a naturally-occurring chemical in the milk called casein. Casein has been used as an adhesive for hundreds of years but to extract it from the milk needs a kind of acid. The acid in this glue comes from the vinegar. The problem is though that vinegar, although needed for extraction, actually reduces the ’stickiness’ of the casein. That is why the bicarbonate of soda is used, it makes the casein more ’sticky’.