Any known methods to repair very soft rubbery coating?

[maywong]

Try Sugru it sticks to anything, nontoxic, air dries, stays flexible. I use it all the time for repairs.

[WhiteDove01s]

Try Sugru it sticks to anything, nontoxic, air dries, stays flexible. I use it all the time for repairs.

That really does look like interesting stuff. I've added a multicolor pack to my wishlists. I've managed to talk the Evil Overlord into adding two different glues to the Amazon order this month, but if they don't work I'll give that a try. Still, it's around $20 and only has a shelf life of 6 months, so I'd want to have the money, time, and plans to use it all up at once... maybe making some shoes and accessories for the rest of the crowd. It sounds like it'd be great for making shoes if I could make sure it wouldn't stick to the feet of the doll I was making shoes for...

[oniakki]

Try Sugru it sticks to anything, nontoxic, air dries, stays flexible. I use it all the time for repairs.

That really does look like interesting stuff. I've added a multicolor pack to my wishlists. I've managed to talk the Evil Overlord into adding two different glues to the Amazon order this month, but if they don't work I'll give that a try. Still, it's around $20 and only has a shelf life of 6 months, so I'd want to have the money, time, and plans to use it all up at once... maybe making some shoes and accessories for the rest of the crowd. It sounds like it'd be great for making shoes if I could make sure it wouldn't stick to the feet of the doll I was making shoes for...

Wrap cellophane or cling-wrap on their feetsies to protect them. Then you can sculpt the sugru and just peel it off.

[WhiteDove01s]

I do have a severe shoe shortage here... I was considering sculpy flex for that, but this sounds like it might be easier to work with (tho pricey for me... I can still shop around and might find it cheaper somewhere tho). Budget is still spent until after July, but this stuff might end up high on the wishlist for after then.

[maywong]

I do have a severe shoe shortage here... I was considering sculpy flex for that, but this sounds like it might be easier to work with (tho pricey for me... I can still shop around and might find it cheaper somewhere tho). Budget is still spent until after July, but this stuff might end up high on the wishlist for after then.

You can buy directly from the company. However I find it cheaper on eBay. You can get 3 packs for $12.

[Czanne]

Sugru has an 18 month shelf life if you refrigerate it. I've only had one packet last that long (it gets used for everything round here) but it was fine.

In theory, you can make a sugru substitute from clear, indoor caulk, corn starch and small amounts of ink or gel food coloring, but I have yet to be happy with it as a sculpting medium (and I really dislike the smell of caulk.) The real stuff would be my first-line for vinyl repair. (Tip - wet fingers make it much easier to sculpt.)

[WhiteDove01s]

Sugru has an 18 month shelf life if you refrigerate it. I've only had one packet last that long (it gets used for everything round here) but it was fine.

In theory, you can make a sugru substitute from clear, indoor caulk, corn starch and small amounts of ink or gel food coloring, but I have yet to be happy with it as a sculpting medium (and I really dislike the smell of caulk.) The real stuff would be my first-line for vinyl repair. (Tip - wet fingers make it much easier to sculpt.)

Hmm. I have white all-purpose caulk. It sticks to vinyl and I use it to modify doll face sculpts. However, in a test a dab of it fell right off Miss Mermaid's tail when dried, so I'm very suspicious her tail is silicone instead of vinyl. Odds are the suguru wouldn't stick either. But it still sounds great for doll shoes. XD

Oddly, the smell of caulk doesn't phase me at all. Possibly because my family did residential construction work when I was younger, and I'm just used to it. XD (One of my first jobs was as a gopher, painter, and just generally going around putting putty in nail holes on one of my grandfather's work sites.)

Anyhow, the sugru still definitely looks like something I'll be adding to my supplies, sometime late this summer. I don't know about refrigerating it tho. I am a horribly absent-minded person at times, and the last time I put craft supplies in the fridge it was glue sticks because I'd heard the glue goes on smoother if the glue sick is kept chilled. I bought said glue sticks about five years ago (I honestly don't remember when, but must have been when I still had transportation of some kind because I got them at Family Dollar).

The end result was that I never used the glue sticks because when I look for glue I look on my glue shelf, not in the fridge. After coming across them again looking for something else I stuck one on the glue shelf this time.

Or, in short, if I tried to refrigerate suguru to extend the shelf life, it would end with me finding it ruined three years later after completely forgetting I had it. Best to have plans to use it up in 6 months making accessories. XD

[Czanne]

*grin* I grew up in the trades, too. Which may be why I can't stand that vinegary smell. It reminds me of long days in the hot sun with a grumpy parent. (OTOH, I love plaster, mud and drywall. Go figure.)

On sugru and vinyl: I've used it on my dash, to repair a yoga ball (so vinyl plus pressure), and as strain relief for just about every power cable I own. The only things I haven't been able to make it stick to are oily (vegetable/olive oil, petrolatum jelly, machine oil). Wipe down whatever you want it to stick to with high proof vodka, 91% isopropyl alcohol, or Everclear (my universal pre-work prep solutions; interchangeable.)

I've got to mend a cable and I've got a practice obitsu head ready to trash; tomorrow, I'll use the remnant of the packet for a test on the head and report back.

[WhiteDove01s]

I've got to mend a cable and I've got a practice obitsu head ready to trash; tomorrow, I'll use the remnant of the packet for a test on the head and report back.

Obitsu heads are also vinyl, though. I'd expect it'll stick to that just fine. I actually use plain caulk to modify vinyl doll heads.

The mermaid tail I'm trying to fix, however, is a lot gummier. It almost reminds me of the kind of rubber used for fishing lures. I'm almost halfway convinced it's some kind of silicone, and the caulk I have doesn't adhere to it at all. I have two things coming in the mail as of today that might have a chance. One is a glue someone here mentioned. Another is, while looking for that, I came across a silicone adhesive meant to repair leaks in fishtanks. If the tail is silicone, it's a bit notorious that the only thing that'll stick to silicone is more silicone... so that might actually have a chance.

Either way, I'll be posting updates once the glues arrive.

[SillyLilPuppet]

I know this is from a few weeks ago, but if anyone knows about repairing torn silicone, its probably coincidentally the mermaid performers over on Mernetwork. I think most of their forum is open to view without a membership, including the tailmaking section where there's all kinds of stuff on making and repairing silicone and latex. I've been on there a few years now and they're all pretty helpful.