Repair jewelry yourself - with the right glue
Who hasn't had it happen before, the plug of your favorite earring breaks off or the embedded stone no longer wants to hold properly?
You're already faced with an overwhelming number of adhesives and have no idea where to start. The big question: How do you actually glue jewelry correctly?
I felt the same way when I started making jewelry myself. Over many years I tested my way through a variety of glues to find THE glue, THE glue to subdue them, to bind them all... all joking aside ;)
However, my glue odyssey is lucky for you, because I can tell you pretty precisely which glue sticks which things well and which ones don't.
So whether you make jewelry yourself or just need glue to repair a piece of jewelry - I hope I can help you with this blog post.
The basics – gluing jewelry correctly
In principle, it doesn't matter whether you want to glue an ear stud back to a base or a chipped piece of the edge of a plate back into place - the basics of gluing are the same.
The parts to be glued should (as is usually stated on any good adhesive) be dust-free, lint-free, glue-free and grease-free. If possible, it doesn't hurt to roughen the glued areas a little with a file or sandpaper. This increases adhesion because a smooth surface can usually chip off more quickly than a rough one, simply because the glue has less to "hold on to".
Fat-free because... well, because fat usually doesn't stick to anything. Next time, fry your pancakes without oil in an uncoated pan, then you will see that everything sticks better without fat! ;)
Acetone is one of the biggest enemies of fat (but unfortunately it doesn't work on the stomach, legs and bottom) and chases away even the smallest bit of fat. Rub both adhesive areas generously with an acetone-soaked, lint-free cloth and you will have a grease-free adhesive area.
This brings us to the next enemy of adhesives - dust and lint freedom play just as important a role. Ultimately, you want to have a clean adhesive area where no hairs will be visible later. Dust and lint also greatly reduce the adhesive strength, because the adhesive parts should stick together smoothly without annoying intermediate particles - lint would prevent this.
Glue-free! An important point! Oh, how many times have I repaired broken jewelry with old glue left and right and everywhere getting in the way of a strong adhesive bond!
So before repairing jewelry, always remember to use tweezers and possibly a cutter knife (but please be very careful - risk of injury!) to remove any old glue residue that you find in the areas to be glued.
Glue and let it stick!
Not an insignificant point either, because your freshly glued piece of jewelry needs rest! How long does glue have to dry?
There should be a hardening time on the packaging of your chosen glue, which you should definitely stick to. If you stress the adhesive connection too early, all the work may have been in vain and the connection will come loose again.
The glue test - a foreword
Please note that I have very high standards for my bonding and I primarily focus on bonding areas that are subject to really high levels of wear and tear - like ear studs. What didn't work for me may be the best glue for you and your project, please keep that in mind.
If you would like to try one of the glues I have listed, go ahead, I am always for testing!
But ear studs are also a difficult thing to repair because they are subjected to a lot of wear and tear. As a rule, more than, for example, a glued chain clasp or a set cabochon. Ear studs are pulled and tugged, pressed and pushed and not every adhesive connection survives this for a long time. I'll explain to you why some glues are better suited for jewelry than others in the glue comparison below.
The ultimate glue comparison – what sticks to what?
Hot glue
Hot glue guns are incredibly practical! If you want to fix something or do simple craft work, hot glue is often incredibly useful because it is easy to apply and of course dries very quickly. I like to use hot glue to secure more complex plant arrangements before casting them in resin. The hot glue part remains outside and is simply cut off or sanded off at the end.
For jewelry, however, hot glue is too thick and too coarse to create a proper adhesive bond between the jewelry pieces or even ceramic. If you like to experiment, give it a try, almost all rigid pieces of adhesive can be easily “cracked off” after they have cooled down.
I once experienced this with a pair of hair clips that I bought in a DaWanda shop.
The bows on the hair clips were attached with hot glue and survived just one wear because the hot glue simply lacked the necessary adhesive strength and ended up hardening too rigidly. Especially for something that might even be used on a daily basis, that's simply not enough.
Superglue
An incredibly fascinating adhesive in itself, superglue dries literally in seconds and usually holds very well!
Superglue bonds wood, stone, metal, many plastics, leather, the chipped edge of a plate and also paper and cardboard quite reliably.
I've tried many brands of superglue, but I ended up sticking with the Pattex Ultra Gel Matic and the Uhu Minis .
For a long time, I initially glued my ear studs with superglue.
This worked well for a while, but unfortunately superglue quickly becomes brittle over time or dissolves easily when exposed to too much moisture (including sweat, creams and body fats). Thin, thick, super fast, a little slower, no superglue has stood the test of time.
In plain language, that meant: plugs broke off and I had to repair them more often. Of course, this is the last thing you want if you want to be known for good, high-quality jewelry. So I said goodbye to superglue.
All-purpose glue and universal glue
A very versatile glue, as the name suggests.
All-purpose glue is usually very water-resistant and often hardens flexibly.
My choice was the Uhu all-purpose glue and it really sticks quite a lot.
From paper to ceramics, metal, glass, fabrics, wood, stones, rubber and many plastics – the all-purpose adhesive sticks (almost) everything.
So at least it sticks for now. It will certainly also attach your studs back to your earrings and you will most likely be able to wear them a few times, similar to superglue.
But not for long. Here, too, I unfortunately had to realize that the all-purpose glue is not a “permanent glue”. In the long run, even with all-purpose glue, the ear studs didn't hold and the search continued.
E6000
I had heard a lot of good things about theE6000 back then! “Best jewelry glue!”, “Jewelry glue in a class of its own!”, “E6000 is the solution for jewelry repairs!”
Flux ordered a gray tube of adhesive miracles – a big one, of course! The disappointment was about as big, because the glue doesn't harden really hard, it's actually very flexible. This can be an advantage in some applications, but not for jewelry bonding.
The glue could be pulled off like rubber with a little force and didn't hold up to my pull/crack test. If I'm being completely honest, I still don't really know what you can actually use the E6000 for.
Hasulith jewelry glue
Hasulith is a somewhat milky craft glue that becomes clear after drying and is said to be excellent for jewelry and rhinestones.
It had been recommended to me so often that I bought a tube when I was looking for jewelry glue.
Unfortunately, the Hasulith glue didn't do it for me either. How come? Similar to the E6000, it is far too elastic, at least for sticking ear studs. Elasticity can be an advantage for some projects, but glue that is too elastic is rarely an advantage when repairing jewelry.
Resin
Not primarily known as glue, but it is one.
Of course, it depends a lot on the type of resin, but in general, casting resin is an excellent adhesive. So far, for example, I have been able to achieve good adhesive results with Art Resin ; the Art Resin website also explicitly advertises that their resin is a super strong glue . The big disadvantage is that Art Resin only lasts for about 6 months.
Maybe not everyone will buy a €60 resin for their jewelry repairs, but for anyone who already knows something about casting resin and has one at home or likes to try it out - feel free to try a test piece (observe the manufacturer's precautions and warnings). – Resin is not a toy!).
If the bonding holds, it can go to the good piece of jewelry!
If you are not very familiar with mixing and processing synthetic resin, I would advise you to use the next glue - it is a little easier.
Two-component glue - the glue for jewelry making
Yes, which glue is the best to use to glue jewelry? So let's come to the adhesive winner: If you don't have synthetic resin at home and don't want to spend small amounts of money on it, it's best to use two-component adhesive.
You can get it quite cheaply compared to casting resin (around €10-15) and experience has shown that it will serve you well.
Two-component adhesive consists - as the name suggests - of two components that must first be mixed together to cause a chemical curing reaction. This works in a similar way to casting resin, because in principle two-component adhesive is nothing more than a thick resin glue. And resin sticks - as I said - damn well!
That sounds a bit complicated and yes, compared to all the other types of glue mentioned above it is of course more effort, but if you want to properly repair your earrings, rings or necklaces and want your gluing project to hold, then the additional effort is comparatively small.
To call the glue devil by its name: I chose the Uhu Plus Endfest or even better - the Uhu Plus Endfest 300 . The “300” stands for “industrial adhesive” and is said to hold even better than the Uhu Plus Endfest, which I can absolutely confirm so far.
When stored correctly (room temperature and no direct sunlight), the Uhu Plus Endfest (300) has a shelf life of at least two years - Uhu even writes on their website that they could not find any problems with samples of 6-year-old glue.
To date, I haven't had a single connector break off and no end cap that I glued to it has fallen off.
Why Endfest?
Of course you can glue with whatever you want, there are many two-component glues out there.
I'll just explain to you why I chose Uhu Plus Endfest 300 .
• Uhu Plus Endfest 300 holds up to 170kg/cm² and that's a pretty decent number, I would say. Not bad for an adhesive connection, right?
• An important point for me is impact resistance. For example, if you remove an ear stud from the clasp, you are literally pulling on the stud. An impact-resistant glue helps to hold the stud to your earring during such everyday forces.
• You don't have to stress about the final party either, because you have a pot life of 90 minutes. This means that once you have mixed the two components in equal parts, you have a full 90 minutes to work before the glue starts to toughen and harden.
• Uhu Endfest is also very moisture-resistant. Sweat, moisture, rain – these are all enemies of jewelry. I still wouldn't go swimming with glued jewelry on, but it's good to know that you won't lose your earrings in a rain shower.
• This special glue is available in a syringe version for easy mixing, with its own small mixing tub for mixing glue and a small spatula for stirring. Spatula and mixing tray are available in both tube and syringe versions. Someone thought of that!
Glue that doesn't yellow or have a yellow tinge?
Yes, that's right, I've been using Endfest for over 5 years and it doesn't yellow - not even on the first pieces of jewelry I glued with it.
To be fair, it has to be mentioned that it is not 100% transparent either. By default it looks something like ginger-lemon tea mixed together 😅
The thicker you apply it, the yellower it will be, of course. Since it is only recommended to use a relatively thin layer of adhesive anyway, this shouldn't be a problem in most cases.
Which final feast exactly?
The Uhu Plus Endfest glue (300) is available in different versions. Which of these you use is up to you. I have always been very satisfied with the two-chamber syringe linked above . However, I have now switched to the two individual tubes of glue because the price is better and I don't mind mixing.
Glue jewelry quickly
Another alternative for projects where you don't want to hold the glued area for several minutes and if you want things to go a little faster is the smaller brother of the Endfest, namely the Uhu Plus Schnellfest . I've successfully glued a lot of things together with this and so far everything is still holding.
In general, I am still of the opinion that the longer a good glue has to harden, the better. So if you have the time, don't stress your glued piece of jewelry, but let it harden in peace with a strong glue.
It's not for nothing that Uhu called the Endfest “Endfest” ;)
The perfect glue - which glue do you use to glue jewelry?
My number one choice for gluing jewelry for several years now: the two-component glue. With two-component glue you can glue ear studs, securely glue end caps for bracelets, securely attach eyelets for necklaces and much more.
As a bonus: even broken dishes can be repaired incredibly well with it (if properly pretreated - see grease-free, glue-free and dust-free).
First think, then stick
A word of warning: I would probably still never glue a handle to a cup and assume that everything will work out. Before you attempt such projects, be aware that you could seriously injure yourself or others if the attached handle no longer feels like holding your piping hot coffee.
One for all, all for one
I hope I was able to shed some light on the sticky world of glue and maybe even help you repair one of your favorite pieces ♥
Best wishes,
tilly
This blog post was last updated on: March 10, 2023
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Just to be on the safe side, a little note: I have no connection to Uhu or the other glue brands mentioned here. I receive nothing for this article nor am I being paid by anyone for it. I bought the glue mentioned myself and the opinions expressed are my own.