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i'm pleased with myself! making xmas cards and finding we were out of paper glue i boiled up a teaspoon of linseed (flax) and made the best glue to hold my cards together. bravo me!

I'm impressed, didn't know you could make glue from linseed. Not surprised though, I put a tablespoon on my oats every day and some always stick to gums etc.

That's very clever, what gave you the idea it would work?

(Linseeds catch in my throat and I choke. I give them to the hens instead = omega eggs)

i have made hair gel in the past with it. a teaspoon boiled in a mugful of water makes a lovely gel, to be kept in the fridge though as it does go off. from leaving the seeds in the teastrainer i knew it set fast, so i just used less water to make a thicker gel for glue. well if you consider linseed is the stuff for window putty. don't know how long the paper will stay stuck mind but atm it is doing the job on the xmas cards.

Linseed oil is a drying oil - it reacts with the oxygen on the air and forms natural polymers, so goes hard, which is why the example you give of glaziers putty works - so I would have thought your glue would set fast, given that paper is at least a little porous.

hi jon, apparently it's the outer coating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucilage) which does the job not the internal seed oil. fascinating nature huh!?