Paint on Elmer's Glue - Worth It?

Ever see a photo on the internet with a description of what to do and wonder what the final outcome is supposed to look like? Well, I came across this one on Pinterest with the description, "Elmer's glue on canvas. then paint over it." Seemed simple enough, but what did it look like? Well folks, I tried this one out for you and here's what I found:

After glue dries

Before glue dries

First, I took a small canvas and Elmer's glue and tried to make the same design they did. However, I discovered that the thicker the area, the more the details started to melt away. If you try to do this, be careful not use too much glue or it will start to spread.

After waiting 24 hours, I went to see the results... and as you can see in the photos, it doesn't look at all like the first photo. The glue, while 3-D in some areas (mainly the bottom right corner), it was practically invisible in others. So that's problem #1.

Problem #2? If you can't see the glue, how on earth are you supposed to paint over it?! So here's what it looks like if you paint around the glue and here's what it looks like when you paint over.

If you paint around the glue, be sure you have a tiny paintbrush if your glue design was detailed.

If you paint over the glue, you can come up with some fun designs that will (hopefully) end up being 3-D but it's up to you how you want to paint over it. I ended up just swirling the paintbrush around and after it dried, got some nice see-through effects:

Ultimately, I don't think painting over Elmer's glue was the bees knees. I suppose anything you make that could be monogrammed would be a nice gift for someone, but I think you can skip the glue part, especially because it takes so long to dry.

TOTAL COSTS: About $12
$2.99 for 5oz. of Elmer's glue from Michael's
$1.99 for 2oz. bottle of paint from Blick Art Supplies
$6.60 for a 4x6 canvas

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 30 minutes + 24 hours to dry
10 minutes to glue design
24 hours to dry
15 minutes to paint

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
But really, unless you're going to use a LOT of glue, this may be one of those things on the internet best left on the internet.