repair

What Mending Can Mean

Long out of favor due to the glut of cheap clothing, products and materials, mending and repair is on the rise again. That’s got us looking into the deeper meaning of mending.

Mend Peace (Yoko Ono, Louise Bourgeois)

We were instantly riveted by @tumanualidades.de’s tiny videos of mending because they were so restful to watch, offering seemingly simple solutions to fixes we have in the past spent too much time worrying or procrastinating about. They called to mind a cosmic view of mending and sewing from some favorite artists.

My Secret Weapon for Home and other Projects UPDATE

Years ago painters left behind some sanding sponges they used to achieve a perfect finish in the high gloss surfaces. Something made me pick one up to try sanding an ugly heating pipe coated in green enamel. The ease-of-transformation was a revelation. I’ve been using that perfect sponge ever since for all sorts of fixes and projects around my house.

A Strong Sugru-like Adhesive You Can Make

Designer Stephen Johnson’s colorful adhesive dough prototype will bond all sorts of materials, including wood, glass, stone and metal and is strong enough to bond furniture parts together. We wondered if we could make some ourselves…

We Found a Way to Be Rich By Doing Almost Nothing

We’ve found novelist Ann Patchett’s Times article My Year of No Shopping to be a potent catalyst for creating wealth.

Productivity Principle: Doing Nothing Can Help Get Things Done

My big lesson in productivity, learned the hard way, flies in the face of the accepted wisdom.

Sugru Will Fix Your $300 Headphones + Other Stuff You Love

After trying a number of materials, the truly miraculous (and fun!) Sugru proved the only one to fix the $300 noise-cancelling headphones I rely on to calm my super-sensitive nervous system. It has become a staple in my arsenal.

Make Do and Mend: Gentle Inner and Outer Activism

Understanding that “waste is symptomatic of failed relationships” has changed our view about repairing/mending/fixing — from the inside out.

Essential for Powerful Emergency Fixes, Plumbing + Otherwise

After a friend proudly showed us unique patch she’d done underneath her sink a few months before, we had to know the story AND the material ahe used. It’s become an essential tool in our arsenal.

Morph Your Ancient Laptop (even Macs) into a ChromeBook

After Improvised Life’s part-time editorial assistant Mira Keras had a health challenge that lasted months, causing extended leave from her two steady gigs, her laptop broke. It happened just as she was feeling well enough to return to virtual work at Improvised Life AND when her emergency-slammed finances were at an all-time low. She told me about…

DIY Kintsugi for Repurposing Broken Shards

Years ago in Paris at dinner at art dealer Maxime Defert’s home, each place setting had the glass knife rests in the form of a hard candy. They proved not only wonderful to look at but eminently practical. Resting our sauce-slicked knife on it allowed us to reuse it at the next course, saving on dinnerware, without…

Yoko Ono: Mend an Object and Your Heart

Every morning, we’ve been reading a page from Yoko Ono’s tiny book of instructions, Acorn. We have been moved by many of the “instructions” we’ve come across. We find this one, which advices a practice of mending, both physical and emotional, especially compelling.

When Broken Tools Reveal New Usefulness (Su Tung Po)

The other day I was reading a poem written by Su Tung Po in 1097, over a thousand years ago, and realized that it was talking about me, right now in 2015, using such perfectly wrought words, I saw the most ordinary moment differently. Here is a fragment*

Repair Essential: Bondic Liquid Plastic Welder

(Video link HERE) Does your headphone phone jack have a loose connection? Did the stem of your eyeglasses snap? Tired of trying to repair them with weak glue or duct tape? We said YES to all those questions and were thrilled to find Bondic, a liquid plastic that “welds” broken items. It fits right in with our…

Embroidery Fix Redux: Disguise Rips with Images or Symbols

Recalling Virginia del Giudice‘s recent post on using needlework to cover holes in vintage garments, Susan Dworski alerted us to an inspiring iteration on the theme of embroidery fixes:

An Embroidered Fix for Torn, Treasured Fabric

We recently received another inspiring fabric fix from Virginia del Giudice, photographer and co-owner of La Percalina, a fine vintage clothing shop in Buenos Aires.

Dept of Impermanence: Ode to Broken Things

When our favorite 50’s coffee cup slipped off the counter and into the sink SLAM, right into a delicate glass for a double whammy of perfect breakage, we got an early morning reminder that this beautiful stuff we have is just that and NOT what’s essential. With Ai Weiwei and Pablo Neruda.

paolo goldstein on how repair can be a way into creativity

(Video link here.) Paulo Goldstein sees himself as a craftsman in his approach to repair. It seems to us, he has the viewpoint of an artist, and certainly his repairs reflect a rare sensibility. We found this short video incredibly illuminating, for the many levels of living he addresses. Here’s the gist, but there’s way…

‘the art of fixing things’ will help you make anything

We are smitten with Lawrence E. Pierce‘s The Art of Fixing Things, principles of machines, and how to repair them: 150 tips and tricks to make things last longer, and save you money. The title and its very long blurb are not quite accurate however. The book is also a manual about MAKING things, tinkering, and…

ribbon watchband repair

…more beautiful than the original watchband. via the late, great Platform 21’s “Remarkable Repair” archive.