Clag Glue

True-ish Tales of Stationery Icons

Good Morning Clag.

Would you like to share your research project with the class? I know you’ve been working so hard, pasting together your family history.  So tell us, were your ancestors as curious and studious as you?

 Many millennia ago, the Ancient Egyptians made papyrus. They were diligent documenters and couldn’t find enough surfaces on which to embed their travel guides and tax receipts. One day, whilst pondering the problem over breakfast, the Pharoah’s scribe noticed that her porridge had left a gummy residue around the edges of her bowl. Rushing in to work with her packet of cereal, she boiled up the wheaty starch and used it to glue papyrus together. It was the perfect concoction for their paper experiments and, as it turns out, quite a turning point for humanity. 

Four thousand-ish years later, on the other side of the world, a young Melbourne chap called Joseph also used wheat starch for the benefit of humanity - or perhaps just Aussie school kids. He created a washable, edible glue and set to work creating a monopoly over the entire Australian junior education sector.  The iconic jar, originally made from glass, was designed to hold a paintbrush applicator neatly within its lid. Students could quickly pop the top and get busy gluing glitter, connecting collage or pasting papier-mâché. 

But why stop there? It was also considered a tasty snack during class (connoisseur clag) a cool way to make fake skin (cosmetic clag) and most impressively, a hair gel for spiking up your mohawk (coiffure clag)!