Introduction: Make Your Tea Towel Magnetic With Sugru (+ Video)

By sugru
About: The team behind Sugru, the mouldable glue that makes fixing and making easy and fun. Do-ers of the world it's time to get excited. http://sugru.com
It's incredibly satisfying to watch a tea towel fly across the kitchen and snap onto the fridge door.

We couldn't resist taking them outdoors though :)


This hack was inspired by quartertone's very awesome magnetised kitchen towel, we fell in love with his idea but also thought that sugru could make it a little bit better by solving the waterproofing and washing issue.

Did you know that sugru:
- bonds to fabrics
- is flexible when cured
- is waterproof so you never have to remove the magnet as sugru will protect it
- is washing machine proof so will not wash off

Step 1: Ready, Steady...

Start off by getting all your stuff ready for your hack. You will need the following:

Magnet* we used: Neodymium magnets - size 10mm x 5mm (1/2" is good)
sugru
Tea Towel
Scissors
Tissue paper


* We bought strong magnets from our local electronic store, (Maplin in the UK - product code: YA29G) they work really well as they are strong enough to hold the weight of a tea towel. (otherwise you'll might get tea towels sliding down the fridge!)
We also found loads of them on eBay, search for: NEODYMIUM or NdFeB
These magnets from RadioShack should be good too.
Or from K&J Magnetics, this one looks pretty good to me.

Good to know: This hack requires just 1/3 of a mini pack of sugru, so you can do three tea towels at the same time, or you can line up a few other hacks so you don't waste any sugru. For more inspiration and ideas, check out our gallery.

Step 2: Base Layer of Sugru + Fabric Tips

First of all you'll want to make a small base layer of sugru on the towel so you can then attach your magnet...

Start with a sixth of a pack and push onto the corner of your tea towel. You need to really work the sugru into the fabric to get a good bond, the two best techniques for sugru and fabric are:

THE TWIST: use quick, sharp, twisting motions multiple times over the surface.

or

NAIL: use the back of your nail in short brushing motions to push down into the fabric.


TIP 1: After a little practice, you will find a technique that works for you.

TIP 2: Sometimes the sugru sticks to your fingers instead of the tea towel, just give your hands a quick wipe with dry tissue paper.

Step 3: The Magnet

Now you have a sugru base layer on your tea towel use the other sixth of the pack to fully encase the magnet.

sugru bonds to sugru extremely well, but to get the best bond make a point on one side of the magnet to push onto the tea towel. The point will squash the sugru outwards from underneath the magnet giving you the best possible bond.

TIP: Once the magnet is fixed to the tea towel, blend the edges around the magnet to the base layer of sugru. This will make your hack much more robust. If you don't blend the edges, the magnet can tear off over time.

Step 4: Get the Best Out of Your Magnet

Make sure you get the most out of your magnet by only applying a light covering on the top side, keep this in mind when your smoothing down the rest of the sugru to get the finish you want.

As ever you will need to leave your tea towel over night to dry so maybe leave those dishes a little longer...

Step 5: Customise!

We made loads of these tea towels for our video and had fun experimenting with making interesting shapes and mixing colours.

If you make one, please post an image in the comment thread :)