Hasta La Gadget!

Sugru is a brand new modeling clay that has me absurdly excited. Why? Because it is something I have wanted since forever, only I didn’t even know it.

Sugru is a self curing, hand-moldable material like clay or Play-Doh. The difference is that it cures by itself and you end up with a silicon lump that is dishwashers safe (and if it can survive a dishwasher, it can survive anything). Better, it is sticky. Sticky enough to adhere to metal, wood, ceramic and plastic, whereupon it can become a handle, a protective coating or just a new, custom part.

The gunk is designed for hacking and repair, and came from an idea that product designer Jane had in university at the RCA London. Five years of collaboration with two materials scientists (Ian and Steve) later, and the result is Sugru. To show why we are excited, here are a few suggested uses: adding proper handles to kitchen objects; making cases for, well, anything; waterproofing bags, fixing things to other things; making a hammer softer; adding non-slip earpieces to spectacles and repairing textiles, cables, or shoes.

The silicon material gives you a half hour of working time before it hardens and than needs a full day to cure fully, whereupon it will still flex and absorb heat and cold (-60°C to 180°C, or -76ºF to 356ºF) without flinching. It’s cheap, too, at £7 ($12) for “The Multi-Hack Pack which contains “five 10g sachets and five 5g sachets, which is totally a lot.”

I just bought a pack.

Sugru Product page [Sugru via Core77]