PVA and Professionalism

PVA and Professionalism

Hey all,

I have an interesting question for you about PVA glue. This is not about application as with my Epoxy troubleshooting, but rather about its viability in professional crafting. Recently, I created some powder pigments from mixing Cornstarch, PVA Elmer's Glue All, and food coloring. The results were quite unique. I even experimented with a rediscovered powder of Fruity Pebbles, which led to some interesting outcomes for crafting. One particularly striking creation was a blend that looked like old teeth, which I called Tooth Rot and used for making quintaped teeth for wand cores.

Another experiment I conducted involved trying to create a cheetos pigment. I soaked cheetos in water to make a "Cheese" water mix, which required a lot of PVA glue and Cornstarch to balance it out. After baking the mix to achieve a decent hardness, the result was a fascinating light orange material that resembled cloudy crystal, reminiscent of orange Quartz.

Despite the air bubbles from baking, the material turned out rock-hard. My father couldn’t even crack it with a hammer! My question to you all is whether casting this "Quartz" in solid PVA and polishing it up would be considered professional. Would adding a good top coat or maybe a resin clear coat enhance the final product? I want to create wand handles from this material, but I'm curious about whether it would be seen as too elementary or school-craft-like among professionals.

What are your thoughts? Would selling such items cheapen my craft? Your advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm eager to learn and improve.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit our website.

POLYVINYL ALCOHOL (PVA, PVOH) | How Easily Does it ...

When we develop products, we adhere to three core principles:

1. It has to biodegrade—meaning it will decompose into reusable nutrients.
2. It has to have an eco certification—ensuring ingredients are third-party accredited and eco-friendly.
3. It’s gotta be plastic-free—to reduce the carbon footprint and ensure biodegradability.

While developing our plastic-free liquid dish soap, we considered various plastic alternatives for storage. One of the options was Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH, PVA, PVAL).

PVA/PVOH has gained popularity in products like dishwasher pods, laundry detergents, and shampoos. Though technically 'plastic', it behaves differently when in contact with water, making it more environmentally friendly than traditional plastics.

Many companies claim that PVA/PVOH is biodegradable. However, our research indicates that while PVA/PVOH dissolves into a "non-harmful" monomer, the timeline for its complete biodegradation is unclear—potentially taking years, decades, or even centuries. Despite this, some advocates argue that it’s better than having solid plastic waste lingering in our oceans.

In a recent study published by Newcastle University titled "Microplastics and synthetic particles ingested by deep-sea amphipods in six of the deepest marine ecosystems on Earth," scientists explored the ingestion of microplastics by deep-sea life, highlighting the far-reaching impact of microplastic pollution.

PVA/PVOH being oil-based presents another challenge; it's not carbon-neutral. Our current climate crisis reflects the pervasive use of petrochemicals, even in 'plant-based' cleaners.

Given these issues, we chose to develop our own pods from all-natural materials like beeswax, oils, and resins. Natural materials offer a clear decomposability that synthetic alternatives do not.

However, natural pods have their downsides: they are costly to develop and still produce waste, albeit biodegradable. Despite these challenges, we hope to decrease costs and make a broader impact through initiatives like the Plastic Free Club.

This brings us to a fundamental question: Should we revisit using PVA/PVOH? It’s potentially a significant step forward, and we are already exploring improvements toward an oil-free version. But for now, we must decide whether to continue developing our beeswax pods or incorporate Polyvinyl Alcohol.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit PVA Powder.

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