“Er, what?” I hear you ask…
Sugru® is a trademark of FormFormForm Ltd
Sugru®. It’s a self-setting mouldable silicone rubber. I love this stuff. Particularly since I’ve just saved myself several hundred dollars by using a quarter of a package which cost me $12.00 or thereabouts… And no, they’re definitely not paying me to write this.
Earbuds and two small packs of Sugru®, one red and one white. That greyish stuff in the middle is the original silicone putty. Yuck….
The red and white blended together to form pink. Enough for two ear moulds and a bit left over.
The finished ear moulds. Not pretty, but effective!
Marked left and right. So important for those bleary-eyed early morning starts!
A perfect fit. Thanks, Sugru®!
Here’s the deal. As you’ll be aware by now, the Husband of Chiconia and I rather enjoy our long distance forays on the back of Miss Scarlett, our Honda ST1300. The distance and speed we travel at dictate the use of a closed face helmet, not to mention that classic Australian occupational hazard, multiple insect strike. (Seriously, sometimes we get home from a ride quite crusty…). A closed face helmet means we can’t hear each other (or, thankfully quite a lot of other noise), so we’ve gone for a good intercom system for the helmets. The Husband favours speakers inside the helmet, coupled with earplugs to cut down wind noise. I prefer earbuds, as I’m very deaf in one ear and need more direct sound. But keeping earbuds in, and cutting down wind noise, needed some kind of custom hack. I tried silicone putty, but it falls out, gets dirty and is easily lost. I was on the point of forking out for a pair of custom moulded in-ear sound pieces at a cost of several hundred dollars, when I remembered reading about Sugru® in a comment by Grannymar on TheKitchensGarden blog, and the light went on.
Trouble is, the stuff is made in England and as far as I can tell, there’s only one place in Australia that stocks it (although it’s available in the States). I took the plunge and bought a pack. Now, I confess, I like a bit of pink. My intercom has a pink dot to differentiate it from the HoC’s, my earbuds and cord are pink. So imagine my delight when I found you could mix the colours of this stuff to make pink! They even give you a little colour chart in the pack telling you how much of each colour to use…
The instructions are foolproof. If you get it wrong, you’re not just a fool, you’re a total idiot! Wash your hands. Open the package. If you’re mixing colours, roll the two together till blended. Mould your item. Leave it to cure. Job done. It’s not sticky, smelly or floppy. Colour comes off on your hands, but can be easily removed with paper towel. The pack contains all the information you need and their website and blog, even more. Lots and lots of creative apps for this stuff too.
Only time will tell how durable and easy to clean these things are, but for our long trip starting tomorrow, job done!
talltalesfromchiconia 
I hope they work well for you. We’re always learning something new from our blogging friends. Enjoy your trip! Godspeed.
Thank you! As I always say to the Husband when he leaves for work, “Drive carefully, come home safely”. That’s the plan….
I heard about sugru for the first time yesterday – my neighbour used it to patch up a chipped vase ! could this be the latest tech miracle about to burst into our world?
I have to say, it’s really cool stuff. I wrote them an email to say how much I liked it, and here’s a link to my blog post. I think if people make good things, it makes sense to let them know they’re on the right track.
Love their website – just been seeing what it can do. I’m thinking I might be able to use it to fix the seal on my fridge door where it doesn’t fully close any more.
Anyway, have a brilliant time on Miss Scarlett and we’ll ‘see’ you when you get back. x
I know, it’s an awesome site, isn’t it? I keep looking at things and thinking “I could Sugru that!” So many hacks, so little time. I’m a bit exhausted from all the prep; it’s hard work trying to eliminate almost everything from your normal travel kit, anticipate bad weather and breakdowns, and still be comfortable. Time will tell whether we do such a big trip again without a trailer!
Brilliant – the Sugru, their website, and your idea. Do you think I could use it to fix my hearing aids in? (They fall out at the drop of a hat, they’re so tiny.
I don’t see why not! You don’t actually hear out of the ear canal as such, do you? The hearing aid pick-up is behind your ear? I should think you could make a moulded piece to fit inside the antihelix, which would have the function of preventing the hearing aid itself falling out. Alternatively, of course, you could just go to the chemist and buy very cheap silicone putty, but I don’t like it for the reasons I’ve given. You just lubricate the ear with a strong soapy water solution so the Sugru releases easily when you remove it from your ear. You may want to consider some mechanism to help you insert and remove it; mine has the wires. How about a tiny ring?
Thanks for the suggestions. I shall experiment. It’s all very well having hearing aids no-one can see, but at my age I’m not vain enough to mind!
I’ll be interested to hear if it works!
I’m trying to think of something I can use it for! When Grannymar first mentioned it, I said to the G.O. we could use Sugru for this, and he predictably said… nah… but think I’m right… if only I can remember what it was. More than likely if I buy some, or be discovers it himself, he’ll then think it’s great.
Happy & safe travels 🙂
You can get it here: http://www.microwear.com.au. Have fun!
I am delighted it worked for you Kate. I have no connection with the company either, but learned about Sugru® from one of my Blogging friends.and found it easy to use and very useful. My daughter tells me to store unopened packs in the fridge (for up to one year). Re blogging this. Safe journey and fun times!
Thanks, we’ll be having heaps of fun. And I just this evening found something on Miss Scarlett which needed a nice bouncy edge of Sugru to prevent a metal bit scratching the paintwork on the petrol tank. I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship!
Reblogged this on Grannymar and commented:
Sometimes I babble on about rubbish (Who said I do it 24/7?), but if I find a fix or ‘another’ way round a problem, I like to share it with others. I did just that by mentioning Sugru® in a blog comment the other day. I thought no more about it until Kate got in touch with me yesterday. She wanted to show the way she used Sugru®. Wonderful!
I have no connection with the Sugru® Empire – Well it has developed and grown since the days I first heard about them. I have used the product many times successfully over those years.
Now I wonder………… If I keep sharing….. when will I be eligable for a pension? 😉 😆
Hello again. I popped over to have a look, but the reblog comes up as ‘page not found’… sorry…
It seems to be lost in space, so I have written the post again, you can catch it here: http://grannymar.com/2015/03/13/life-is-all-about-sharing/
Picked this up on Grannymar – looks eminently practical. Now, of course, imagination needs to be exercised to add decoration, earrings or whatever!
Their website has some fun ideas, and a seemingly endless source of user-contributed suggestions.
what a clever idea ^^
I thought you’d have made them in red, like Miss Scarlet ^^
Miss Scarlett understands about the pink…. I have actually just made her a little red Sugru edge thingy for a metal section on her handlebars which sometimes rubs against the petrol tank and marks her paintwork. She’s very happy about that!
Well done! Nothing like doing it yourself on the cheap!
I know! Gotta love a big fat saving like that!
Hmm, I was expecting something edible! Interesting name for something that you can’t eat.
Anyway, very resourceful, especially considering the saving you made!
It looks a bit like bubblegum, doesn’t it? And I keep thinking of all sorts of other things I can do with it!
I knew it reminded me of something – bubblegum, that’s it! I am sure it will have plenty of uses. Little beads to adorn your sewing . . . ??
It’s actually much more useful than that, but yes, it would make pretty beads.
Came to you from Grannymar, never heard of this product before but will seek it out. Thank you both. 🙂
It’s wonderful stuff. Do go to their website, there are all sorts of brilliant ideas for how to use it!
I’ve done that – brilliant stuff – and they have offered me a free sample so I will be able to play with some myself very soon! Thank you for the intro to Sugru. 🙂
Enjoy! I keep finding things to do with the remainder of the multipack I bought…