Bowman | 16 Jun 2018 8:03 a.m. PST |
So I recently bought two types of Mod-Podge: 1) A small bottle (2oz) of gloss to seal and "wetten" the look of my river terrain 2) A larger (16oz) bottle of the matte to seal some hill terrain I'm currently building. What is this stuff exactly? The bottle doesn't contain any info on the make up of the material. From the look of it, the texture and stickiness, and the smell it seems to be a more liquid (less viscous) version of my Aileens Tacky Glue. Is this stuff just white PVA that dries matte? Also, I diluted the M-P by about 50% before painting it on to my terrain. It seems fine and didn't obscure the texturing. I hope I didn't do anything wrong. And finally, does anyone use M-P to glue down static grass and any other ground cover? Thanks for any help or comments. |
Dervel | 16 Jun 2018 8:28 a.m. PST |
It is basically PVA. I dilute it with water and use it to paint my canvas terrain mats to stop them from fraying. |
DyeHard | 16 Jun 2018 8:57 a.m. PST |
On many products one can search for the "Safety Data Sheet" (SDS) was (MSDS) and find details of what it is made of. Mod-Podge list only "Residual Vinyl Acetate" at 0.5%, this in the monomer used to make Ploy Vinyl Acetate (PVA). There is no requirement to list non-hazardous ingredients. Both PVA ans water call be claimed to be non-hazardous |
Big Red | 16 Jun 2018 9:42 a.m. PST |
I use it diluted 50-50 to attach static grass to bases. It has worked well for many years. |
nnascati | 16 Jun 2018 1:39 p.m. PST |
I use the Satin and Matte to varnish all my minis. |
Bowman | 16 Jun 2018 4:45 p.m. PST |
Thanks everyone. So it's just PVA. Still useful as the only other PVA is the heavy tacky stuff from Aileen's. |
robert piepenbrink | 16 Jun 2018 6:17 p.m. PST |
Water is non-hazardous? News to seamen and boaters. (Now, airmen will tell you the air really is non-hazardous, and they're right: it's the return to land or water that gets you.) |
Big Red | 16 Jun 2018 6:51 p.m. PST |
I'm no expert but I don't believe its just PVA glue. Its some type of vinyl product. |
nevinsrip | 16 Jun 2018 7:54 p.m. PST |
Before you seal in your hills, spray them with iso alcohol. That will allow the glue to saturate the areas and sink in, rather than just laying on top of the surface. |
TamsinP | 17 Jun 2018 6:10 a.m. PST |
There are actually SDSs for water, and they have conducted LD50 tests (to find the dose that will kill 50% of the test subjects). Extrapolating from the oral dose LD50, for an adult human it would be about 7-10 litres of water consumed very rapidly, which would fit with some of the evidence from ecstasy-related deaths. |
Baranovich | 17 Jun 2018 7:37 a.m. PST |
No, it's not just PVA glue. It has additional sealing agents which is why it's designed for sealing pictures and puzzles and similar projects. It also has additional hardeners that PVA glue does not. It also has additional ingredients that allow it to be used as an acrylic sealer. When Mod Podge is fully cured it is essentially a thin layer of clear acrylic plastic. Yes it is true that you can use PVA glue as a sealer but Mod Podge isn't glue. I've never found the need to dilute it, I think it works best at full strength for terrain projects like rivers and water effects. The reason I don't dilute if for rivers is because at full strength it "stands up" much better on a flat surface so that you can create ripples and waves with your paint brush when you apply it to your surface. I would think if you dilute it it would spread out too much and not stand up properly to provide those watery surface shapes. I can see the need to dilute it for varnishing purposes so that it doesn't coat the mini. too thickly. But don't view it as being just like PVA. It's much more useful than just being a "PVA-equivalent". |
DyeHard | 18 Jun 2018 1:08 p.m. PST |
Yes TamsinP: Water can kill, even if it is often claimed to be no-hazardous. Most commonly people consume too much water which lead to electrolytic imbalance that can be fatal. Note that very pure water (DI, RO, DM, Distilled) is even more dangerous. |
Bowman | 18 Jun 2018 5:43 p.m. PST |
I'm no expert but I don't believe its just PVA glue. Its some type of vinyl product. Ya, the vinyl is what the V in PVA represents. When Mod Podge is fully cured it is essentially a thin layer of clear acrylic plastic. Can't find any acrylate compounds from the MSDS. I see poly vinyl actetate and a bunch of aromatics like toluene, ethylbenzene, acetone, n-butane and propane. These evaporate to let the PVA harden. The acetone "wets" the surface, similar to Nevinsrip using isopropyl alcohol, I believe. Perhaps it is harder than just using diluted PVA glue as a sealer. I don't want to find out. I've never found the need to dilute it, I think it works best at full strength for terrain projects like rivers and water effects. Good to know, but I was just sealing extruded polystyrene foam hills. I used a small amount, diluted it by 50% and had some left over. But I have some of the gloss Mod Podge which I will be doing just that for my river. |