Monday, April 3, 2017

Fix It


Recently, I purchased some black cat desk items from Amazon, a smartphone stand, and an eyeglass holder. I was crushed and upset when the items arrived in pieces. Whoever was in charge of packing and shipping, shipped the items without packing material to guard against breakage. Not very bright. The tails on both cats were broken off. And worse than that, the front legs on the smartphone stand were broken off completely and shipped without feet!

Both of these items came from third party distributors. The smartphone stand had a notation that the item was not returnable. I didn't notice that at the time of purchase. Caveat emptor. Amazon was great about issuing a refund, and since the item could not be returned, I didn't have to bother sending it back.



The tails on both items had been broken off cleanly and were easily fixed with a bit of Gorilla glue. But what to do about the broken smartphone stand.? I didn't want to just toss it in the trash. I didn't think the polyresin it was made of could be recycled.

I thought of painting the stumps and gluing a bit of yarn in front as if the kitty was playing with a skein of yarn. I really liked the stretching kitty pose. Ink used to do that pose a lot.

I decided I'd try to make legs with a bit of Sculpey clay. Sculpey is a polymer clay which needs to be baked in order for the clay to harden. When baking, the clay gives off toxic fumes. I had an old toaster oven which was dedicated to baking the polymer clay, but the oven died long ago. I never bothered to replace it as I didn't really do much with polymer clay.

While in Michael's picking up the Sculpey, I wandered around to see if there was another type of clay I could use. One that didn't give off toxic fumes, could be air dried and didn't need to be painted.

In the kiddie aisle, I found a package of Magic Model by Crayola. It came in a rainbow of colors, could be reused or air dried. It even came in black. Perfect! So I fashioned some legs and molded them directly to the stumps. They seem to be holding without having to use glue. With some Tombow markers, I colored the white features on the face to resemble my Ink. So a happy ending to a shipping disaster.


The legs are still drying so not sure how long it will take for them to harden completely. I've since propped up the body so air can circulate completely around the front legs. I'll also have to take care to make sure the stand doesn't get knocked off the table as it won't survive a fall.

9 comments:

  1. Wow- that cat came out sooo cute. I think you were really clever to think of that repair.Other than waiting for drying time, it didn't need that whole baking time. :) Happy Monday. Hugs-Erika

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    1. So far, the fix seems to be working. The legs are a little out of proportion, but then when Ink stretched like that, he looked out of proportion, too.

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  2. You did a great job of fixing that smartphone holder. I like how you extended the legs, because I've seen both my boys do the same.

    BTW, IF you ever decide to use polymer clay, you can sculpt it, place it on paper such as index cards, and place it in a metal tin that has a lid. In lieu of a metal tin, you can place the piece on an index card, then place in a disposable pie tin. Place a second tin inverted on top and hold in place with 4 bulldog clips. Then it's safe to use your regular oven. Although I have a dedicated toaster oven for mine, I show how to use poly clay when you have no tools or baking equipment.

    http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/2012/09/lesson-17-polymer-clay.html

    Hope it's helpful, but of course, I really like the product you found in the kid's department.

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    1. I'm pleased with how the repair turned out. And thanks for the tips on how to use polymer clay when you don't have tools or baking equipment. Good to know.

      I'm happy with the Crayola product. Safe and non-toxic. Very easy to work with and not sticky.

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  3. That is super cute CJ. It made me happy just looking at it..How will you get any work done?😉

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  4. Always a silver lining! Good for you! It DOES look like Ink! :D

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  5. Well done!! Looks fantastic! It's sad though the way it was packaged!

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