An Overdue Review (and a Shameless Product Endorsement)

A long time ago (last October), in a galaxy (well, really on a blog) far, far away (in England, to be exact, although the magic of blogland makes the distance seem as nothing), I won a giveaway. Pomona of Little Cottage Comforts was offering, as a prize, a very fun product called Sugru - a sort of grown-up playdough made of rubber, which air-cures to a firm, flexible, heat- and cold-resistant material. (It has all sorts of amazing applications and will stick to just about anything.)

The precious package arrived on November 1, and was promptly stowed away in my crochet basket. (I viewed it rather as one views a treasured fat quarter of very expensive quilt fabric - almost too nice to cut into - and was resolved not to play with it until I had some really good ideas for its use.)

Very exciting package

November, December, January and February were swept away in an avalanche of holiday- and family-related events. Meanwhile, the little package from England sat patiently biding its time and my attention. (I did keep a list of Sugru ideas going in the interval.)

This week, life slowed down a bit, and the day finally arrived when I could play with break out the Sugru. What fun to open the package...

"Royal Mail" sounds SO much more romantic
than plain old "U.S. Postal Service"

...and pull out the exciting contents.

Mentally rubbing my hands

Ooh - 12 little packs of Sugru in various colours. Once opened, Sugru stays soft and workable for about 30 minutes, then begins to cure. (The recommended curing time is 24 hours.)

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Dr. Sugru was in, and the first patient was called.

Patient #1: a small, extremely efficient, halogen-bulb space heater which we call our "Personal Sun". (Micawber motto: why waste energy heating an entire house, when you can just heat the space you're in?)

This wonderful little heater is portable by means of a handle on the back - which handle, however, could have been better designed.

Too shallow, and nowhere to grip

The heater is very top-heavy, and the handle tends to slide right off the fingers when carrying. I was hoping Sugru would help solve this problem.

I opened one of the air-tight packages -
(orange to signify warmth and cheer) ...

... started rolling (here's where years of
Playdough practice came in handy) ...

... applied to the handle; shaped and smoothed
until it seemed about right ...

... and added a bit of fun texture
with the tip of a retracted pen.

And the heater gets set aside for 24 hours
while curing takes place. (Ha! Dr. Sugru -
curing - unintentional pun.)

On to Patient #2: A broken paddle brush. This was a slightly more difficult case, involving multiple surface angles and some awkward physics - a brush handle can be subjected to quite a bit of torque. I wasn't sure my idea would work. But, since it's better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all:

Ouch

A little ball of Sugru to squish between the broken parts ...

... next, a sort of gasket to help the pieces adhere ...

... and, over that, a collar of Sugru.
Now to await the cure.

By next morning, the Sugru had fully cured to a firm, slightly pliable finish. Time to test my work.

We have liftoff!

Patient #1, the heater with the slippery handle, was now grippable and easy to carry. Success!

On to Patient #2. The seal held, and my brush is like new again. (I tried to take an action shot, but it's very difficult to brush one's hair with one hand and take a picture of the back of one's head with the other. You'll have to take my word for it.)

Back in action! (And there's a hair to prove it.)

Best of all, I still have 10 little packets of Sugru left. A very hearty (and dreadfully tardy) thanks to Pomona for a great giveaway.

P.S. If you're interested, check out the Sugru website for many more ideas on making, designing, fixing, hacking, and generally improving stuff with this excellent and fun product.

P.P.S. Nobody paid me to write this post (more's the pity).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~