You could try sealing-wax in the middle to hold everything. It depends on the kind of envelop you fold. You could even close it without glue or wax by folding the ends together.

> Elmers sort of glue always ripples, glue sticks are hard to control, and rubber cement doesn’t hold.

Amen. And spray adhesive is messy. I began a search for the perfect paper adhesive in elementary school and it still hasn’t ended.

Double coated sellotape is pretty good, especially the variety with a protective paper covereing one side.

I quite like Pritt stcks, too, but the surface you glue on has to be changed often. I usually use old magazines for that.

I quite like Pritt stcks, too

UHUstic is another favorite.

I agree with Mili. I don’t do any paperwork like this now but it was the standard for connecting and mounting the slips of paper we made for my color theory class. If you cut the paper properly you could get a seamless edge to edge connection.

«El futuro es una línea tan fina que apenas nos damos cuenta de pintarla nosotros mismos». (La Luz Oscura, por Javier Guerrero)

The secret of gluing paper:

1. Use Sobo craft glue. It’s very similar to bookbinding glues, but a little more all-purpose
2. Apply a thin layer of glue to both objects using a piece of matte board or bristol with just a little glue on the tip.
3. Sandwich everything between layers of paper.
4. Press in a book press overnight. Since you don’t have one (and who does?) just pile a bunch of heavy art and design publications on it overnight.

Since you’re doing a bunch of these, the best thing to do is have one person glue while another person sticks the envelopes under the books.

If you’ve got some sitting around from other projects, you can also use matte polymer medium — it’s a well known substitute for PVA among bookbinders, and reasonably priced as well.

For just a few envelopes, a toothpick works well for spreading a very thin layer of glue (a small, cheap paintbrush works great too), and you should probably decant a small amount of glue at a time into a disposable container. I bought a sock of .75 oz plastic food service tubs (250 of ’em for $3) at a warehouse store just for this purpose, and they work great.

As James said, pressing overnight makes them nice and flat — put a sheet of wax paper between them so they don’t accidently stick together (or to whatever you’re using for weights!), and you can pile a bunch up.