Old glue water change 2026 – annual check of the condition of old glue, essential for mounting work.

Every year, we change the water in the old glue at the time of the big chill. This year is also the time of year.

What is old glue? If you are wondering what old glue is, please take a look at the 2025 blog for more details.

To summarize very briefly,
Furunori is a special glue used by mounting artists those is made by aging starch glue derived from wheat flour for several years or more.
It has low adhesive strength and is soft, so it can be used to make hanging scrolls and other objects flexible. It is also easy to peel off.
the burden on the paper can be reduced during restoration.
It is the one and only glue those is not sold on the market, and is made by mounting masters themselves over a long period of time.

It is the one and only glue those is not available on the market.

Today, we would like to report on the process of changing the water in the jar containing the old glue once a year.

◆

Currently, the only old glue stored in our mounting store is the one made in 2018.
Every two years, we have put new glue in a jar to ferment the aged ・,
The next year, when we opened the jar for a water change, it was rotten, in a series of cases,
In the end, only the ones made in 2018 are growing into old glue smoothly.

◆

Here is a jar of the 2018 products.

Open the seal.

Then open the lid.

It looks almost the same as usual. It is covered with white mold. However, it does not smell at all.
This layer of mold on the surface is dumped into a bucket. Then, the water in the jar is also dumped into the bucket.

these is what the inside of the jar looks like after the mold layer is dumped.

The surface is slippery, but very clean. It smells a little like yogurt.
If you remove this slime, it looks like this.

It is beautiful!
Pour water here.

After closing the lid, let it sit in a cool, dark place for another year.
I hope they grow well next year!

The water change was successfully completed like this.
But I still miss having only one jar.
In fact, this year, the bi-annual glue cooking was held by the Edo-mounting research group “Omotesikai,” of which I am a member.
I was unable to attend due to business, but kind-hearted members made glue for me.
So this time, I would like to put water on that glue as well and store it to become old glue.

these is the freshly made glue. these is a lot of glue for a jar.
Looking back, there was this amount of glue at the time of 2018. So the bulk has been decreasing a little every year along with the mold.

Now, we have to add water to this glue so that it becomes old glue, but we have failed many times and it has gone bad,
I knew that something had to be done.

I thought that something had to be done.
I thought that I had filled the jar with water and closed the lid before the glue in the jar had cooled down sufficiently, and as a result, bacteria might have grown inside the jar.

these is what I thought. (Thank you, Mr. Shimane, for your advice.)
So I put my hand on the surface of the glue, although it had been overnight since the glue was cooked,
(Thank you for your advice, Shimane-san.) When I put my hand on the surface of the glue, I felt that it still had a little bit of warmth. (Was it my imagination?)
So I let it sit outside one more night so that the glue inside would cool down enough.

Make sure it has cooled off, fill it with water, and close the lid.

Continue.

Guessing the cause of failure (2)
The best place to store the jar is said to be a cool, dark place.
The environment in which we keep our jars is cool all year round, and even in the summer, we do not need air conditioning,
However, the air is stuffy and there seems to be a lot of humidity. Naturally, mold growth is likely to occur in such an environment.
This could be the cause. (Why only the 2018 jars are safe is a mystery…)

So, I will try to change the storage location for this jar.
As for the temperature, it is not that low, but the humidity is low.