Disclaimer: I don’t know ANYTHING about chemistry.
I did some research prior to trying Reddit, but things still aren’t quite clear to me. My questions weren’t deemed appropriate by r/chemistry, I hope you guys can/want to help me out.
I’m in the miniature painting and making hobby. We frequently use PVA, wood glue, and Mod Podge during crafting. These products have different properties, or so people say/believe, but it is quite unclear to me (or anyone in the hobby?) where the differences lie.
So I’ve broken down my quest into 5 questions:
All three of them are PVA based products. PVA stands for polyvinyl acetate.
1. What is Polyvinyl Acetate? Why does it glue?
From my understanding, the main difference between PVA and Mod Podge and wood glue is that sealant is added the the latter two.
2. What is the sealant in this case? How does it seal? (What is “sealing”?)
3. What is the advantage of sealant in addition to the glueing property of PVA?
These 3 products tend to be used interchangeably in our hobby. However, Mod Podge is considerably more expensive than the other two.
4. What would the advantage be to using Mod Podge over the other two?
PVA tends to be the cheapest option out there.
5. If wood glue and Mod Podge are just PVA with added sealant, can you make your own by adding sealant to PVA yourself? If so, how?
Edit:
A) Apparently I need to go into editor to copy/paste, lol.
In: Chemistry
Wood Glue has other resins added that make it more water resistant and better for gluing wood together. Mod podge uses something like clear acrylic paint but it ends up being is very similar to School Glue thinned with water, which makes the pva a decent sealer. Mod Podge doesn’t want to tell you if you mix 1 part water with 3 parts white glue you get something very similar to mod podge.
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