I've done a fair amount of mending over the years, perhaps
especially this year, since “Mend” has been my special focus. Sorry to say I haven’t
mended everything I meant to (yet!) – there is a basket of items needing
attention in my studio thumbing its nose at me whenever I walk by.
And today I helped mend something I've never dreamed of
tackling before…a concrete garden fountain!
My friend Lysa recently bought a garden fountain she’s had her eye
on for a while. When they got it home and lifted it out of the car, one
corner of the top broke off. Moisture had penetrated partway along the break
line, so clearly it had been cracked for a while. Very disappointing! But
gardeners are an intrepid lot. She headed off to the hardware store for epoxy
that claims to glue concrete, rounded up a couple of long clamps, and we
tackled the job this morning.
I apologize for no pictures, but neither of us has done
anything like this before, and there was no way I was getting my camera
anywhere near brown, gooey epoxy! (I have a bad track record for messiness.) We
mixed the two parts of the glue, donned plastic gloves, smeared and fitted and
clamped, and then crossed our fingers. The repair is still drying so no final
results are in, but we have high hopes that the mend will prove functional,
though probably not invisible. But that’s okay, “visible mending” is something
of a movement these days. Try that phrase on Google or Pinterest.
It’s too bad we didn’t have gold epoxy though, we could have
mended it kintsugi
style.
A concrete fountain is not the only odd thing I've ever
mended. I think the previous record was held by the traveling dog crate ripped
by an exuberant young Golden retriever. It's not terribly elegant, but it was
patched it well enough for Higgs to travel 1500 miles or so home in it.
Millie was a lot
of help with that mend!
Since the weather has been cold and damp here, I'm quite
pleased with the other mend I recently completed. Back in May, Judy and I went
to an outdoor rummage sale on a really cold and rainy morning. The weather
probably influenced me to buy this Norwegian sweater.
When I got home, I looked up the brand and discovered that
you can still buy this exact same sweater. Of course a new one will set you
back $220. Mine cost $1. But it had holes!
One should never let a hole or two (or five or six) get in
the way of a lovely wool sweater. Some red cashmere scraps and a bit of
embroidery thread to the rescue.
And wouldn’t you know it – I like it much better now than
when it was just black and white!
Posts
