Fixing the annoying things with Sugru
Meet Sugru, the world first mouldable glue that turns into rubber.
You know those little daily things that annoy you? For me it was the cable of the slow cooker falling into my face every time I moved it off the shelf. The way I’d knock the lead out of the back of the laptop every time I moved it and a little teapot that I’d tried to fix and failed for the last 20 years. I had tried various glues on the teapot and velcro solutions on the cables but they just did not work. Sugru were lovely enough to give me a little kit to organise small spaces and I was amazed at how quick it was to solve my daily annoyances forever.
Imagine plasticine that turns into flexible rubber when it is dry and you are somewhere near Sugru. It is a magical solution to almost every DIY problem. It sticks to everything but comes off easily if you need to remove it. It bonds and flexes, is heat and cold resistant. The challenge really is finding something it won’t fix.
Mending ceramics with Sugru
The teapot lid before mending. I cleaned it with soap and water and let it dry.
Sugru comes in little tin foil packages. You can get lots of colours but I wanted my mend to show up so I chose a red that went with the rest of the teapot. My logic was that if it didn’t look perfect it would look better standing out than trying to blend in. When you open the packet you have to knead the Sugru between your fingers for a bit to soften it. You have at least half an hour to use the Sugru before it starts to set.
I made a big sausage of Sugru and squashed it between the two halves of the lid
The next bit was worrying me. I thought it would be tricky and fiddly. It actually took me less than a minute to scrape off the excess Sugru with a knife. I smoothed The Sugru down with my finger gently after removing it on the top and the underside of the lid. Then I left it alone for a day to set.
Nailed it!
In my defense there was no Sugru 20 years ago when I broke the teapot, but I wish I’d done this years ago! It is heatproof, washable and very strong!
and I had enough leftover to sort out the annoying cable on the slow cooker
Top tips for Sugru
- Don’t be scared of it. You have loads of time to play around with it until it sets.
- Don’t be a perfectionist. Mended is better than broken, leave it at that!
- Do try it on things you thought were unfixable. People have mended shoes, put up coat hooks, organised pot lids and more surprising things with the stuff.
If you want to try it but don’t know where to start I recommend one of their kits. I had the Organise Small Spaces kit which came with a handy tin, some fixings I didn’t use this time round, a little plectrum thing to scrape off Sugru if you need to and a nice little book full of ideas and tips.
Sugru makes a great gift too, if you need more excuses to get some.
Disclosure: Sugru gave me an Organise Small Spaces kit to help me write the post. I’m also an affiliate so if you buy any Sugru through the links on this page I’ll get a tiny commission.