Hide Glue

$20.00$36.00

In stock

Description

Hide glue is a granulated form of rabbit skin glue and is rich in collagen. The glue is a protein based adhesive used in fine woodworking and antique restoration and for thousands of years was the most common woodworking glue until the invention of polyvinyl acetate and resin glues in the 20th century. It is made from animal skins, bones and connective tissue. It is a tenacious adhesive yet also water soluble and non toxic and not hazardous. Artists use rabbit skin glue to size canvases. People also use it in bookbinding and to prepare certain art mediums.

It is used as a protective coating for protein fibers in high alkalinity dyebaths such as an indigo vat and visibly improves the hand of wool and silk fibers, even after multiple prolonged indigo dips. Some dyers are noting that it works well with tannin-rich or iron-infused dyebaths as well.

For details on how to use hide glue, please see our Hide Glue Indigo Vat Instructions. 250g will last for approximately 10 indigo vats.

From our Feedback Friday series:

How do you use your hide glue? On your site it says it  is used as a protective coating for protein fibers.

Hide glue is soaked in cold water first to hydrate the grains, then dissolved with hot water. It is used at a very low percentage to help protect fine wools from the harshness of an indigo vat. Some dyers also use it to maintain a soft hand on fine wools with tannin dye as well.  Please note that this is not a vegetarian product.

How does Hide Glue protect while not interfering with the dyeing? It is basically keratin the same thing as dissolved wool? The answer is in that somehow?

Hide Glue is a mixture of collagen and keratin and it easily coats wool fibers, providing a silkier hand feel in harsher dye baths. I think you are right that it mimics wool and since wool does have a stronger affinity to natural dyes than cellulose fibers, it’s still an attractant to the dye without repelling or interfering with the dye uptake. It also helps that we use it in very small amounts so there would not normally be a large amount of it floating in the dye pot to interfere with the dye process. Thanks for the great question!

Non-vegan/vegetarian

Additional information

Weight N/A
Dimensions N/A
Weight

250 gm, 500 gm

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