Elliot C Nathan making wheat paste in San Francisco

Origin
Wheatpaste is an easy to make and affordable liquid adhesive made from flour, sugar, & water. It has historically been used for papier-mâché, book binding, decoupage, and now more frequently is used to adhere paper advertisements for movies and events on city walls. To remove or dissolve wheatpaste you need only apply hot water until saturated then pull or scrape off the paper.

Elliot C Nathan making wheat paste in San Francisco

Street artists often use wheatpaste because its cheap and easy to make in bulk. Wheatpasters will use brushes, rollers, & sometimes brooms to coat a surface with the sticky goo, apply their drawing or preprinted graphic, then add another coat on top. The wheatpaste saturates the paper and once dry gets very rigid.

How to make
Wheatpaste is wheatpaste is wheatpaste, but mine is the best, and I’m going to tell you how to make it. Here are the basics to creating Elliott’s Superior Hand-Made Non-Vintage Organic Wheatpaste.

Elliot C Nathan adding water

You will need: flour, sugar, & water.

First, get out a medium sized pot and fill it half way up with water. Boil that water! Next get a mixing bowl and put in some cool water in there, then scoop in some flour and mix it. You want to create a flour-water slurry that you will later pour into the boiling water. I’m not a big fan of measuring when it comes to making my paste but some sites suggest a 1:4 ratio of flour to water. Make enough flour slurry to fill the boiling pot 3/4 of the way to the top (1/4 slurry, 2/4 boiling water) . Once you are all slurried up pour the drippy mixture into the boiling pot while stirring. Mix and stir thoroughly for 2 minutes. Stirring keeps the mixture from double-bubbling over the edges. After two minutes turn off the stove and add a 2 or 3 cups of sugar and mix. I like to add a lot of sugar so the concoction is super sticky.

There you have it, let your paste cool for a bit and its ready to use. For a hipster wheatpaste use before it is cool.

Elliot C Nathan mixing

Once made, Elliott’s Superior Hand-Made Non-Vintage Organic Wheatpaste is bottled and refrigerated until it is ready for use. The paste will usually be good for at least 2 or 3 weeks if not longer. If the paste is too thick after being refrigerated, simply dilute the quantity you want to use with a bit of warm water and mix it up. Voilà! Always get permission before posting things on other people’s property. Now get to work and start making things!