artbabe
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,407 
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Post by artbabe on Mar 1, 2024 14:14:34 GMT
Why do manufacturers still sell epoxy embellishments? Even my beloved 49 & Market does. Have we learned nothing from the past? I'm not over taking off and replacing all of my epoxy on my layouts from 20 years ago. I just don't understand. It must be crazy cheap because there are other options out there that last much longer.
Other things that didn't stand the test of time- flair, some metals, vellum tape, and some rub-ons. I had to replace most of my old flair (damn you, October Afternoon- it was so cute) and take apart the pages where the vellum tape has yellowed.
I don't care about archival anymore (my nephews are probably going to throw out my albums, anyway) but I'd like my layouts to last at least until I die.
Does anyone here buy epoxy?
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,572
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Post by blemon on Mar 1, 2024 14:25:49 GMT
I can't quit it even though it yellows.
I have Felicity Jane charms that I just love and also some Crate Paper. Too cute to pass up.
I just don't let it bother me.
I did stop buying flair because it rusts here. It's just too humid. I threw out everything I had. I love the new chipboard flair companies have been making.
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Post by mayceesgranny on Mar 1, 2024 15:26:35 GMT
I don't buy epoxy anymore. I agree with artbabe- it's a waste. If I get epoxy stickers or embellishments in a kit I put them in a box for my grandkids to use up.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Mar 1, 2024 16:51:41 GMT
Nope, never again for me. I hated the yellowing.
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Post by karinec on Mar 1, 2024 19:17:35 GMT
Nope. I’m sad about the yellowing. What a waste of $$$.
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craftymom101
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,798
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Post by craftymom101 on Mar 1, 2024 20:04:53 GMT
I was looking through some older layouts and ALL my October Afternoon flair is rusted. All of it! I am so disappointed. Now I have to figure out what to replace those pieces with on each layout.
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Mar 1, 2024 20:05:53 GMT
I stopped using it years ago, because it gets yellow.
I only had a few layouts with epoxy items on them. I replaced that particular item with something else or re-did the entire layout.
I tossed a lot of epoxy products in the trash, some had never been open. The worst was Creative Imaginations.
So much money wasted on epoxy products.
I will no longer purchase anything epoxy.
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cbscrapper
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,482
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Post by cbscrapper on Mar 1, 2024 20:26:36 GMT
I totally agree! I don’t know why companies keep making items with epoxy, since we all know it yellows. I really have to give myself a talking to when I’m trying to resist cute epoxy embellishments, especially Doodlebug! I have occasionally bought the tiny stars and tiny hearts, but pass on all the rest, ESPECIALLY the white items (no one needs a yellow snowman!). I wish they would use a different material than epoxy, even make them puffy stickers!
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Post by Embri on Mar 1, 2024 22:09:12 GMT
Yeah, this is why I stick to paper and glue.
The majority of modern materials are not durable nor stable. The list of archival safe materials, truly archival, as in stuff museums approve of? Your weekly grocery shopping list is longer. Dyes and pigments fade, metals oxidize, plastic goes brittle and crumbles. There's a - not really a saying, but an attitude I guess? - in the conservation field that one can slow the march of time, but never halt it. Entropy is inevitable.
That said epoxy has no business being on scrapbooking supplies. It's a well known and rapid offender. Companies use it because it's cheap, looks good on the shelf, and by the time the customer realizes there's a problem they're way past the return period. Short term profits over long term investments.
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miascraps
Full Member
Posts: 379
Jun 26, 2014 15:37:58 GMT
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Post by miascraps on Mar 2, 2024 3:00:59 GMT
Bingo Embri! “by the time the customer realizes……”
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,118
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Mar 2, 2024 3:18:40 GMT
I have some old epoxy embellishments I still need to take off pages.😢
I’m glad I never used much vellum tape. I used frames around my vellum and put the glue on the frame. I mostly used vellum for journaling—I like the look of words on translucent paper with a simple pattern underneath. The rest of the time I would emboss an image on vellum, then frame it to glue it down.
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Post by artisticscrapper on Mar 2, 2024 4:06:22 GMT
Way back in the day I’d go to crops and a lot of us used epoxy embellishments. One company had these really cute epoxy alphabet stickers. It never occurred to us the epoxy would yellow in the future. I stopped buying epoxy anything a long time ago. I was never into metals or flair so I dodged that bullet.
Companies will keep selling epoxy and metal embellishments as long as there are buyers. Remember those albums with the sticky pages? That glue was nowhere near archival and sucked the color out of the photos. outcry There are companies that still make those. Anything to make a buck.
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Post by joblackford on Mar 2, 2024 5:16:07 GMT
I totally agree! I don’t know why companies keep making items with epoxy, since we all know it yellows. I really have to give myself a talking to when I’m trying to resist cute epoxy embellishments, especially Doodlebug! I have occasionally bought the tiny stars and tiny hearts, but pass on all the rest, ESPECIALLY the white items (no one needs a yellow snowman!). I wish they would use a different material than epoxy, even make them puffy stickers! I hadn’t realized that there was epoxy on the Doodlebug things until recently when I went to use a snowman or Santa doodlepop and it had started to yellow  Luckily I never bought many and only use them on cards, which I do consider to be a disposable item - I don’t want or expect anyone to keep my cards for a lifetime. I’m also fairly good at using things I buy quite promptly and I’m trying to use all of the Dbug epoxy stuff asap. I’d be pretty sad if they were on scrapbook pages. I don’t think I ever used fancy things on pages back when I paper scrapped. |
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Post by hop2 on Mar 2, 2024 14:22:05 GMT
I do not buy epoxy. But I guess it has been a long enough gap that they feel people don’t know or remember. It was a look I liked until it yellowed.
Now I’m into the non epoxy dots which so far ( knock on wood ) keep their color
ETA: I’m not really wanting museum quality archival. I don’t really care too much about archival. I DO care that if I put an item in a page it discolors within a year. Like I had some of those epoxy squares discolor even before I got to use them. If my stuff lasts until I’m dead, I’m good, I don’t care if my kids cremate it all with me 🤣🤣🤣🤣 lmao
Crafting is my hobby & my therapy I do it for ME. I have already given them permission to chuck the stuff.
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jediannie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,093
Jun 30, 2014 3:19:06 GMT
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Post by jediannie on Mar 2, 2024 15:11:32 GMT
Now I’m into the non epoxy dots which so far ( knock on wood ) keep their color ETA: I’m not really wanting museum quality archival. I don’t really care too much about archival. I DO care that if I put an item in a page it discolors within a year. Like I had some of those epoxy squares discolor even before I got to use them. If my stuff lasts until I’m dead, I’m good, I don’t care if my kids cremate it all with me 🤣🤣🤣🤣 lmao Crafting is my hobby & my therapy I do it for ME. I have already given them permission to chuck the stuff. I don’t expect a lot of longevity from my albums either. I don’t expect my kid to take them all so I don’t worry too much about epoxy elements. That being said I try and steer clear of epoxy except for those epoxy dots. They seem to be really good and haven’t faded for me either. I’ve had some for 5-6 years and they’re all fine still. |
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Post by mikklynn on Mar 2, 2024 16:10:42 GMT
I wouldn't use epoxy elements even if they were free. I don't trust them not to deteriorate.
Interestingly, my flair has never rusted. I have a ton of OA I can't part with, along with other brands. But, I don't use it because I decided I don't like how bulky the pages are with flair. I have been going through old albums and reducing the number of pages here and there. I have also removed the flair and other bulky embellishments.
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Post by hop2 on Mar 2, 2024 20:34:34 GMT
Now I’m into the non epoxy dots which so far ( knock on wood ) keep their color ETA: I’m not really wanting museum quality archival. I don’t really care too much about archival. I DO care that if I put an item in a page it discolors within a year. Like I had some of those epoxy squares discolor even before I got to use them. If my stuff lasts until I’m dead, I’m good, I don’t care if my kids cremate it all with me 🤣🤣🤣🤣 lmao Crafting is my hobby & my therapy I do it for ME. I have already given them permission to chuck the stuff. I don’t expect a lot of longevity from my albums either. I don’t expect my kid to take them all so I don’t worry too much about epoxy elements. That being said I try and steer clear of epoxy except for those epoxy dots. They seem to be really good and haven’t faded for me either. I’ve had some for 5-6 years and they’re all fine still. Are the dots epoxy or enamel? Is enamel a type of epoxy? |
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Post by chaosisapony on Mar 2, 2024 22:34:22 GMT
I was always aware that epoxy would yellow over time but I thought that time would be longer than a couple of years. So no, I don't buy epoxy embellishments anymore. I actually make a lot of epoxy resin crafts and so many of the name brand epoxy manufacturers include anti-yellowing additives in the epoxy now I am surprised that craft manufacturers don't seem to use this type of epoxy.
My metal flair buttons have been the biggest disappointment. I live in a very hot, dry climate and they still have rust all over them.
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Post by jennoconnell on Mar 3, 2024 9:19:14 GMT
Nope, and that means I buy less from manufacturers that use epoxy and other poor quality materials. Like you, I don't really care about archival quality because most of my photos are replaceable. I do however, expect an item to last longer than a year or two.
If anyone does care about that, the 49 and Market acetate Filmstrip Frames and many other similar embellishments are not archival safe.
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Post by papersilly on Mar 4, 2024 23:41:44 GMT
on a side note, you know what's petering out on me? Scor-tape. it's drying out and stuff is falling our of layouts. it was so strong in the beginning. i got cocky and didn't think i needed to back it up with glue. but now, it's all sliding off now and i still have sooooo many unopened rolls of it in all sizes. ugh.
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Post by Embri on Mar 5, 2024 2:22:11 GMT
Are the dots epoxy or enamel? Is enamel a type of epoxy? Epoxy is a category of resins also known as polyepoxides. In a nutshell, chemicals where you combine A + B and you get a crosslinking thermosetting reaction, aka curing. Epoxy is resin, but not all resins are epoxy - polyester and other polymer resins are also commonly used in manufacturing. Enamel is a weird thing to call hard plastic dots but I'm assuming here they're using it as a buzzword because it's similar to nailpolish "enamel", which is actually a polymer (nitrocellulose or acylates most commonly).
So to answer your question, "enamel dots" are most likely not an epoxy, but a polymer (plastic) which would be melted or solvent evaporated for manufacturing rather than thermoset. That does not preclude them yellowing, because all plastics break down over time but opaque products with a lot of pigment like dots are going to be more resistant on average.
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Post by dewryce on Mar 10, 2024 0:06:09 GMT
Nope, and that means I buy less from manufacturers that use epoxy and other poor quality materials. Like you, I don't really care about archival quality because most of my photos are replaceable. I do however, expect an item to last longer than a year or two. If anyone does care about that, the 49 and Market acetate Filmstrip Frames and many other similar embellishments are not archival safe.I want those so bad and have held off for exactly this reason. They make it to my cart and then I can’t pull the trigger. Has anyone used these years ago? I’m wondering what their shelf life is, I’m old  And for some reason I had it in my head that the epoxy crafts had improved because manufacturers like 49&Market were using them and no one was complaining. So yeah, I bought some. |
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Post by judyc on Mar 10, 2024 18:27:16 GMT
I am having to throw away a lot of washi tape that I have never used. It just sticks to itself and can't be unrolled. I have a lot of washi, and don't know how much of it is like this.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Mar 10, 2024 21:49:35 GMT
I learned long ago,. no epoxy for me.
I was never into metal flair.
And I avoided the melting/gooey rubber bits that left greasy marks.
I do have crumbly rub ons at the bottom of some of my page protectors, but I don't have the heart or energy to fix them.
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Luckily I never bought many and only use them on cards, which I do consider to be a disposable item - I don’t want or expect anyone to keep my cards for a lifetime. I’m also fairly good at using things I buy quite promptly and I’m trying to use all of the Dbug epoxy stuff asap. 
