Sugru - the Fix-it, Mod-it, DIY Silicone

What do you get when you cross the adhesive properties of the average silicone glue with the ease of handling and molding of a polymer clay?

You get Sugru, a new material that's just been introduced in the UK. Under development for the last six years, this material is meant to enable anyone to modify, repair or adjust just about anything that they own, keeping favorite items in good, working order cheaper and for a longer lifetime of use.

I first heard of Sugru via a blog post on BoingBoing.net on December 1, 2009. After reading that story, I clicked through to the product website. It turns out after the BB.net promo, they sold out of their entire starting stock of in just six hours!

This stuff sounded so cool, I signed up for their mailing list. In just a few days, I got a message that the makers were gearing up for another big batch and were taking pre-orders for products to ship in February 2010. I was so intrigued, I placed an order for a medium sized selection of mixed colors. After all, it was only about $12 including shipping which seemed more than reasonable to me for being able to try something so versatile and so new.

I got my Sugru order on January 19th and started hacking the very next day.

I knew right away what I wanted to do as a first hack.  After about 20 years of dozens of piercings, I recently bought myself ring closing pliers.  What makes these special is that they are made only to do just that.  The tips are shaped to provide even and circular pressure which not only closes body jewelry efficiently, it helps preserve true circular shape and they don't slip off the rings.  Although the handles had some texture for grip, it's obvious that they are most often used in piercing shops where the person holding them would be wearing latex gloves, providing an even more secure hold.  Am I going to put on rubber gloves just to close down an earring?  No...

I found a tribal tattoo design that I liked on the internet and printed it out.  Then I cut out the design to make stencils.  Then I got a piece of waxed paper and a rolling pin.  Then I washed my hands, and opened my first pack of Sugru, a 20g sachet of green.

I rolled it between the wax paper just a bit to make a piece of even thickness and also to prevent it from sticking to things I didn't want.  Then I used a small utility knife to cut out the shapes, using the tattoo design as a stencil.  Then I applied the bits to the handles of the first pair of pliers.  It was a lot like when I used to do art with FIMO.  I had to be careful not to work the Sugru too much, as it was clear it would become too soft and too sticky if I did.

For the second pair, it didn't seem like I'd have enough Sugru for the handles, so I opened a 5g sachet of blue and marbled the two colors.  Fun stuff!  The handles aren't solidly covered and have the Sugru on both the outside and inside of the grips due to the over-under way I hold them while closing rings.

I even had enough Sugru leftover after doing the two pairs of pliers to cover the handle of a little steel camping knife I had, which was seriously in need of a better handle.  The marbled mix got a little less crisp in detail as I worked it around the knife handle, but it still looks really fun.

I then fished out an empty cracker box from the recycle bin in the kitchen and made a little rack where my items could cure for 24 hours.  Once the Sugru really started to set, it was easier to burnish off some of the fingerprints and fine-tune the shapes a bit just like with polymer clay.

I found this figurine of the young Goddess Diana at my local Goodwill for $3.99. The crystal tip of her arrow was broken off. It just so happens that I know Oberon Zell, the artist who created the original sculpture for this Goddess statue. It normally retails for about ten times what I paid for it at the thrift store.

I went to a local shop that has a good basic selection of crystals and looked at their Herkimer diamond points. My pendulum picked one for the replacement stone. It cost me a dollar for the new crystal point. I used some white Sugru to make a setting for the new stone. I was able to sculpt the repair just with my fingertips.

The Sugru I used is the newer formulation. It was much softer right out of the packet than I remember the original Sugru being, and it seemed easier to shape and more fluid when I was smoothing it and evening out the thickness.