A little while back, I gave up tape. Now, this isn’t something that affects me on a regular basis — I don’t spend entire days jonesing for a hit of Duct, or find myself with mountains of open boxes that need immediate closing and can only be sealed with sweet, sweet masking tape.
However, I did need to stick some photos into an album and was a bit stuck, myself. I had no tape, but I didn’t want to buy glue because it doesn’t seem very eco-friendly (it always comes in a plastic tube, and aren’t there horses’ hooves in there or something?).
Then, while at Grassroots over the weekend, I saw this cute little aluminum tin on the shelf, a product called Coccoina (cutest website ever, by the way — the English version leaves something to be desired — specifically, coherent English — but that actually makes it even cuter, if you ask me). The label was written in Italian, however I presumed from words like fotografie and ufficio that this here was glue, and because it was sold at Grassroots, it had to be natural (at the very least, it’s solvent-free, acid-free and doesn’t come wrapped in plastic).
I unscrewed the top, took a sniff and was pleasantly surprised by the aroma of almond. Unfortunately, this pleasant sensation quickly turned to skepticism as I thought, “OK, they probably just poured a bunch of almond oil and wax into a jar and called it glue,” so I asked the cashier if she’d tried it. She said no, it just came in, but she’d heard good things (yeah, yeah). For $8, though, I decided it was worth a shot — I did, after all, need to uffix my fotografies into that album.
Apparently, this stuff has been around since 1927. The website — in its funny English — says it became popular when it was first advertised on the radio like so: “Coccoina, Coccoina … It is not a drug but a solid glue that amazes and arouses enthusiasm in those who use it.” Er, yeah. Sorta like how Quebec has been “providing emotions since 1534,” right?
Well, I guess they were sort of right, because it did amaze me: this stuff is super-sticky, not at all gloppy, and the little brush that comes with it fits neatly back inside the container when you’re finished.
Furthermore, according to Treehugger — who, of course, have already written about this — it even tastes like marzipan, so paste-eaters, rejoice!
Hey, reminds me of growing up in France – the glue we used at school smelled of almonds, too. If you read French, take a look at the website of THE French brand everyone bought, Colle Cléopatre: http://www.colle-cleopatre.com. They actually say that they’re going to be phasing out plastic too (their pots and little spatulas are plastic now, but were metal until the 50s, like your Italian brand)!
Doesn’t ufficio mean office, though?? But it seems to be for photos, too – sure…
Keep up the great work, Vanessa, much inspiration as always in your blog!
Sniffin’ glue now, Vanessa? LOL
Glad you found something that works.
Haha, oh yeah, I think you’re right Catherine — ufficio would mean office. For some reason I thought it meant affix… “colla bianca” is white glue.
Coccoina used to be a children’s favorite! As a kid I remember eating it and it did taste like almonds! And it never gave me a tummy ache! Still very popular.
Ufficio is office, confirmed! And fotografie is pictures!
Ok, so who was the paste eating nerd who figured out that you could eat it?!
This seems awesome. Although I don’t really have a reason to ever use glue, perhaps I could use it on a nice bundt cake…
Ok, I seriously need this project for my five million scrapbook projects, but I can’t find anywhere in the US that sells it!!
You can also use rice as paste. Just take a small amount of cooled rice in your hands and mush it until it’s paste-like. You may have to add a small amount of water.
arduous: It looks like One Hundred Wishes carries it, but she’s apparently on maternity leave. And evidently See Jane Work carries it, but they’re out of stock.
Well flour and water make a very good paste for paper and such, and buying an aluminum container with its own little brush has its own problems, if you’re trying to be very careful about waste, and environmental damage from production.
omg. i saw that quebec ad on tv the other day and made fun of it hard core. your reference to it made me laugh out loud for real!
and well done on the glue
anna in nyc
Hi Vanessa – Cooked white rice (the stickier the better) works pretty good with paper. We used it all the time while growing up in India. Thanks for making me think about it.
It’s really great that people are sharing this inorfmtaion.
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