Am I using glue gun wrong- how would you secure this?

[AluckyEllie]

Hello,

I’m trying to make a ladder for a fairy garden for my daughter. I secured the rungs with a glue gun and initially it was very sturdy but as the glue has hardened it has just come off. Am I doing something wrong or is there another way to stick this all
together? Obviously I am very new to crafting!

Thanks

i find things glued with a glue gun are delicate. I’d use wood glue for that. It’ll take longer but it will stay stuck. Waterproof wood glue of it’s going outside.

It looks as if you have twine around the joints on the ladder. Could you secure the twine with some hot glue on the underside?

Hot glue is nice because it sets quickly, but it is extremely temperature sensitive and very brittle.

Wood glue will provide a better seal, but will dry slowly. It will also have the thickness required to deal with the uneven nature of the bond.

Another option is cyanoacrylate. It sets very quickly and is unlikely to show. The downsides are that it is very thin and you really should wear gloves to avoid accidentally gluing your skin. You may also need to work in a well ventilated space if you are doing anything other than the smallest of tasks.

I agree that hot glue / glue gun is fragile especially for hard material (wood or plastic).

how strong does this need to be? It is a decorative item or a toy to play with?

I’d run some string through paint to make it look dirty rope-ish, tie each joint and put a blob of glue on the thread.

I can't really tell from the image, but if it's wood/twigs then maybe sand away the bark where you want to rungs to be placed and use wood glue