repairing things

The Repair Shop is now also in australia but i'm thinking the quality standards aren't quite as high...

a kid bought in a model of the Flying Scotsman which wasn't running. they fixed the motor and all but either didn't notice or didn't care that the entire front bogie was missing, so instead of being a 4-6-2 it was a 0-6-2.

(i did wonder if they'd even know what the Flying Scotsman was but it spent some time i australia at the end of the 80s, set a bunch of records there)

on topic, i'm trying to fix the floorboards that the plumber left untidy after he'd done replacing some pipes. in the hallway (1m x 2m) he left 3 boards un-nailed and another one split in half. but the entire area had been covered with hardboard (nailed) and then a layer of cork (glued) and he'd removed this from around the boards he needed access to, but didn't for the rest of the hallway, so there's a 5m difference in heights in random places. he'd put the carpet back down, without even picking up all the nails he'd pulled.

it's slow going, mainly because i don't have the tools. plan is to screw down the loose boards (i don't have a hammer). but some of them he's cut in places where they are no joists underneath. and, of course, there are now additional pipes there.

i would love to be better at formal mending. i made an instagram account lately and it 25% gives me repairing videos. I've seen some techniques that are just amazing and would love to try.

― plax (ico), Tuesday, April 2, 2024 1:21 PM (three weeks ago)

this is the stuff I learned to do as a teenager when I worked for a theater costume shop. of course that was 30+ years ago so I could probably use some remedial lessons.

I need work clothes. I need to think about how mending can still be elevated.

I think it depends on the garment ... as in, pants, dress, shirt ... a huge rip in the knee of a pair of dress pants is likely not going to something you can mend and have look normal, but inseams and hems and belt loops you can definitely do. In terms of feminine tops and dresses, currently there is so much "fussiness" in design with bows and buttons and contrast colors, I think you've got a leeway there.

it's slow going, mainly because i don't have the tools. plan is to screw down the loose boards (i don't have a hammer). but some of them he's cut in places where they are no joists underneath. and, of course, there are now additional pipes there.

In a way, screws are better than nails as it's a lot easier to take them out again if you need to or if you mess up. A cheap cordless screwdriver would save you a bit of time. Not sure about the unsupported ends though - if you're not able to fix a supporting beam underneath, it might be easier to buy a new board

i would love to be better at formal mending. i made an instagram account lately and it 25% gives me repairing videos. I've seen some techniques that are just amazing and would love to try.

― plax (ico), Tuesday, April 2, 2024 1:21 PM (three weeks ago)

this is the stuff I learned to do as a teenager when I worked for a theater costume shop. of course that was 30+ years ago so I could probably use some remedial lessons.

I need work clothes. I need to think about how mending can still be elevated.

I think it depends on the garment ... as in, pants, dress, shirt ... a huge rip in the knee of a pair of dress pants is likely not going to something you can mend and have look normal, but inseams and hems and belt loops you can definitely do. In terms of feminine tops and dresses, currently there is so much "fussiness" in design with bows and buttons and contrast colors, I think you've got a leeway there.

― sarahell, Thursday, 25 April 2024 17:44 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglin

No no! The videos I'm talking about are ones where its just absolutely flawless reconstructions of holes in silk. Microscopically fine repairs. Absolutely insane stuff!

Seems like, in the opposite corner, 'visible mending' is also a thing?

I patched my teenager's beloved butterfly print puffer with a solid color and she kept wearing it. I appreciated that.

yeah visible mending is definitely a thing. i mean obv it always has been (leather patches on elbows, motley patching on trousers or coats) but you see places that fix moth holes with v different colours. brings individuality over time, makes the garment yours etc. no longer going to be formal wear but it migrates clothing to old loved comfy wear.

invisible mending - i was at the tailors pinnas and needles recently, standing on the stairs waiting my turn while one of the brothers discussed whether they could invisibly mend a reversible silk bomber the customer had brought in. in the end they said they couldn’t - there just wasn’t enough spare fabric to do it but they suggested visibly mending it to give it some character. customer didn’t want that tho.

my laptop was overheating and turning off even though the heat sensors were telling me that it was nowhere near hot enough for that to make sense and i opened it and the fan was basically solid with dust so i cleaned it out and its now working. perhaps the fan was so bad that it was heating so rapidly that the sensors were behind whatever cutout mechanism there is for heat. in any case it was only staying on for minutes at a time before but seems to be working now and I'm cautiously optimistic that it is 'repaired'. anyway i have now had this secondhand laptop for about 11 years and I like it so don't want to have to get a new one.

I knackered up the motor that rotates the brush in my Dyson vac by getting a canvas cord snagged on the wheel and it made some horrendously loud screeching noises and carried on working for a few more weeks, albeit sounding like a fatally fucked up ww2 bomber, then it died. Without the brush the vac becomes a useless piece of shit, could do a better job with a bristle brush and pan than using this vac now.

There was an ambitious attempt at working out how to replace the motor and I then realised the motor is the most expensive part of the vac head, so just bought a new vaqc head on my credit card for 50 knicker to spare me the pain of fucking about with moulded plastic parts that awkwardly fit together and make want to cry.

i literally hate the dyson that came with my flat

my dc02 seems fine, motor works as well as ever but somewhere between the motor and the end of the hose it loses 95% of the suction power. probably a leak somewhere, bad seal, but i can't see

currently it struggles to even pick up polystyrene beads

mine seems to have picked things up and then drops them five minutes later in another part of the room.

polterdyst

next time I buy a new vac, if I can, it will be a Vax - which is a well reviewed cheap knockoff of a Dyson. I used to think buying reconditioned 2nd hand Dysons off e-bay was the way forward, now I think I was supporting neo-vacism. There is a coin slot to open the vac head on a Dyson and clean off the hairs + strands that clump around the brush. Never actually done this before, just learned this from the Dyson vac maintenance community on youtube.

i read that sharks were good, everyone hates dysons tho

i have to do the coin slot thing like weekly because its permanently getting choked by sewing thread lol