Inexpensive Applique Glue

When we were at Bryce a few weeks ago, Ricci took a class from Sandra Cindritch. Sandra is well known for her applique quilts, and shared this little tip with her students.
We all know how expensive a small bottle of applique glue is. Sometimes the little needle you place back in the bottle gets rusty, and ruins the remaining amount of glue.
Sandra came up with an inexpensive way to make her own applique glue, and she feels it works every bit as good as the name brand ones on the market today.
I know in today's economy we are all looking for ways to save money.

Need to have:
1.)Elmer's School Glue. Make sure it's school glue and washable. Often these can be purchased at a dollar store.
2.) Big mechanical pencils. Ricci found a package of 5 or 10 for just a few dollars at the local dollar store.
Knitting needle point protectors, size large. She selected the rubbery soft ones, not the ones that are shaped like a sock.

Directions:
Pull the orange tip off the glue. Inside there will be a pointed plastic piece, cut that off. Cut about 1/4 off the end of the orange cap.
Pull the black pointed end off the mechanical pencil and push it up inside the orange cap. ( the rest of the pencil can be thrown away, although if you can think of a use let us know!) Make sure it's up there plenty high. Ricci used a wooden skewer to push it up.
Push the orange/black top back onto the glue bottle. If it doesn't go on easily, push the black tip up higher into the orange tip.
The mechanical pencil tip will allow a small amount of glue to be distributed evenly along the edge of your applique pieces.

Use the knitting needle cover as a cap.

Thanks again to Sandra Cindritch and Ricci for sharing this idea!