“If it’s not worth mending, it’s not worth buying” …
So far all my mends in this series have been ‘soft’ – involving yarn or thread, but this week I thought I’d share something a little harder.
Before the kitchen was rejuvenated with new cupboard doors, we used to keep the spices in the cupboard above the kettle and the place where we make the tea. Now things are much more sensible and the mugs, tea and coffee are in that cupboard. However, in the days of the spices, the cupboard was jam-packed and things would regularly fall out. And this is exactly what happened one day, resulting in a heavy jar landing directly on the lid of the teapot. The jar survived, but the teapot lid did not. We tried sticking it together with superglue, but it quickly fell apart. And then, to the rescue came the wonderful Sugru – a mouldable glue. It’s particularly good for ceramics and you can make a feature of it rather than trying to disguise the mend.
In fact, this is an old mend (I’ve been rather busy with some new makes this week), so I can tell you that it has been holding the lid together for over a year now. Sugru is great stuff and I highly recommend it to have as part of your mending kit.
So, have you mended anything this week? If you’ve written a post about mending recently, do share a link to it – I love to see how other people manage to extend the lives of the things they own.
And I’m delighted that Kate has joined me this week. You can read her post here.
The Snail of Happiness 
Laurie Graves
/ April 6, 2020Fantastic! Never heard of Sugru. Certainly have never seen it over here. I’ll keep it in mind.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 6, 2020It’s worth seeking out – we’ve used it to mend all sorts of things that would otherwise have had to be thrown out. It’s strong and flexible and seems to stick to a wide variety of surfaces, so is very versatile.
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Laurie Graves
/ April 6, 2020The things I learn from my blogging friends! Wonderful!
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thecontentedcrafter
/ April 6, 2020You introduced me to sugru some two or three years back and I’ve had some ever since – but I did not realise it can be used to mend ceramics . So good to know – I shall be more adventurous in my use of it.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 6, 2020I’ve never used it to reattach a mug handle or anything that has to take much weight, but for other ceramic mends it seems to be remarkably robust.
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thecontentedcrafter
/ April 6, 2020I used it to fashion a holder on the laundry ceiling to hang a sock dryer from. I hang freshly washed hand washing from it to drip dry overnight. It carries that weight well for about two years now. Probably not as much weight as a solid mug of tea though…..
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020I have mends! Link here: https://talltalesfromchiconia.wordpress.com/2020/04/06/mend-it-monday
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itwasjudith
/ April 6, 2020for some reason, your latest post is not shown in my wordpress Reader… great that you shared here 🙂
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020Very strange…. Can’t imagine why, it went out about 12 hours ago.
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itwasjudith
/ April 6, 2020maybe WP got “confused” by the time difference, as posts are published in time order… or maybe just a delay in the servers
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020In the past, I’ve also found myself ‘unfollowed’ by WP from a number of favourite sites and had to re-follow to get them back in my reader. Worth a check?
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itwasjudith
/ April 6, 2020WP still shows your site as “Following” so that’s good. But it’s good point to check, I noticed this in the past too, thanks!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 6, 2020it isn’t in my WP reader either!
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020I know that some people got it, because I have comments already, so it isn’t a universal problem. I’ve checked behind the scenes and I haven’t accidentally set it to private or anything silly like that… It’ll probably turn up tomorrow, or later today, miles back where you don’t expect it.
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020PS: It’s very kintsugi – I’m guessing that was intentional?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 6, 2020Yes… I’m not very skillful, but it came out ok
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katechiconi
/ April 6, 2020It’s pretty good – enough that I could recognise the intention!
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itwasjudith
/ April 6, 2020It’s great to give items a new lease of life 🙂
I’ve recently wrote a post on (starting) repairing a Victorian chest of drawers :
https://weestorybook.wordpress.com/2020/04/02/repairing-an-antique-chest-of-drawers/
Sadly, due to the current restrictions, this project is now on hold… (the item is in storage)
I plan to do other repairs, is there a way to coordinate? Or do we just publish on Mondays?
Thank you for sharing this technique and for inspiring people to repair!
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Going Batty in Wales
/ April 6, 2020Why iss it always the most precious or useful thing that breaks when dropped not that old mug that had an Easter egg in donkeys years ago? Well done for keeping your teapot going.
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Kim
/ April 7, 2020I’m not sure it counts as mending but I have just stitched two buttons to a very old teddy who has been sitting in my window as part of the current ‘bear hunt’ . He did have eyes once but they were the sort on long wires that came out on occasion. I presume my mother disposed of them at some point.
He’s back in the window, wearing a sun hat since he can see now!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 7, 2020I think that’s a marvellous mend.
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Claire
/ April 12, 2020I used sugru to mend a broken cup handle, it holds up great and it dishwasher proof. Drinking my tea out of that cup right now ! I also used sugru to repair a a rip in my black trainers, it’s almost invisible by using the black sugru. Love that stuff.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ April 12, 2020Now, that’s very useful to know.
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