Crayola Glue Roller- great for kids -not so good for crafters! (Crayola Tools Great Glue Roller)

Member Name: karlsm93

Product:	Crayola Tools Great Glue Roller
Date:	08/04/09 (120 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable price, sticks things well, changes colour

Disadvantages: Nib too big to stick small items

As I have made mention of quite a lot in my reviews, I like making cards and scrapbooks when I have spare time, so hardly surprisingly this kind of craft requires many essentials, one particular item being glue.

I usually rely on my trusty pritt stick, as well as double sided tape etc for all my sticking, however, I decided to try out this crayola glue roller, purchasing it from amazon at a very reasonable price of £1.50. Any crayola products that I have previously purchased for myself or in school have always been of good quality, so this tempted me even further to test this item for myself.

Now, it is essentially a glue roller for children, particularly since one of its main claims is that the 'glue goes on purple, dries clear!'. This claim is true, and sure enough the glue comes out in a purple colour, however it does take a while to dry, so you need to be patient to see the glue dry clear.

The glue itself comes inside a special purple and grey applicator, and has a 'high tech comfort grip' on the sides for easy use and hold. In the middle of the applicator is a clear window holding the 'glue reservoir', allowing the user to see how much glue is left inside the applicator.

The applicator also comes with a 3/8" roller nib, to help control when applying the glue. The nib comes with a plastic top, obviously to avoid the glue leaking out.

On my first attempt at using this glue, I found that I needed to keep rolling the nib on rough paper before the purple glue came to the surface. However, once I got the glue flowing, for the most part, it was very easy to use, rolled on smoothly at an even amount, and did exactly what it said on the packaging - coming out purple and drying clear. I also found that it did stick well, and didn't start to dry out and leave the item coming loose. Although it must be said that the size of the nib makes it impossible to stick some of the smaller craft embellishments, and thus should really only be used to stick bigger items like paper/card/vellum. It is however a child's glue roller, and would be ideal for the kind of items that children would be gluing anyhow.

All in all, I liked this crayola glue roller. I think it would be very useful for a child in that it is easy to use, easy to handle, and sticks well. Children will, I'm sure love the fact that the glue changes colour when it is dry. However, I don't think I would recommend it the same for crafters. Yes, it is ideal for sticking card or paper, but as I said, not so good for those smaller embellishments, and for that reason alone, I will stick to pritt/tacky glue or double sided tape.

Summary: A great glue roller for kids, but not for sticking small craft items