How to Make Beautiful Hooks From Twigs and Sugru:) (+ New Video)

Intro: How to Make Beautiful Hooks From Twigs and Sugru:) (+ New Video)

maybe I sound silly but I love twigs !!!!!!! :)

here is my idea for how to make awesome hooks with twigs and sugru

hope you like it !

This is our new sticky video to show how well sugru bonds to loads of different materials.

STEP 1: Collect Twigs

go to your local woods, the end of your garden or if you live near the coast you could find some beautiful drift wood.

collect lots of twigs, big and small and take them home, you could be surprised with what you end up using.

STEP 2: Snap Twig to Size

snap your twigs to size, I like to snap my twigs because it leaves a lovely natural break.

Think about what you want to hang and what kind of hook would best suit that. Select the most suitable twigs from your collection and get snapping.

I would recommend not to snap too short to start with.

STEP 3: Chose Your Twig and Prepare the Surface

Offer your twig up to the wall as a quick test...

Why not experiment with the different twigs you have.

Once you are happy, make a note of where the sugru will be needed.

If the wall is dusty or dirty, give it a wash and let it dry.

STEP 4: Mix Sugru to Get the Colour You Want

You can mix sugru to get a nice earthy colour for your twig.

For a full range of colours that can be mixed I have added the sugru colour mixing chart here.

A nice earthy green is a mix of orange and green and an earthy brown uses orange and blue :)

For this I used a full sachet of orange and about two thirds of a sachet of green

Take a look at our colour mixing video here.

STEP 5: One Piece of Sugru Onto the Wall

break the sugru into two pieces, roughly one third and two thirds.

Press the smaller piece of sugru onto the wall creating a compact pyramid of sugru, be careful not to spread it out.

It is important that you press the sugru repeatedly onto the wall so that the sugru has the best possible grip. I pressed this at least 20 times until I was confident that it had a good grip.

STEP 6: The Other Piece of Sugru Onto the Twig

Apply the rest of the sugru to the twig.

roll the sugru into a saussage.

Wrap this around the twig at the point of contact with the wall.

press the sugru gently and repeatedly until you are happy with the shape.

STEP 7: Pop the Twig Onto the Wall

Press the sugru on the twig onto the sugru on the wall.

Press the two parts together gently but firmly.

Once the twig is fixed to the wall, you can blend the sugru until it looks the way you want it.

STEP 8: Enjoy Your Lovely New Hook :)

once the sugru has cured, my new hook is ready for a life of service :)

Comments

[tarepanday]

is there some surface that sugru would not stick to?

[projectsugru]

hi tarepandy,

yes, there are. It does not bond well to polyethylene / polypropylene. Typically it will not bond to greasy plastics.
It bonds very well to batural materials; metal, wood, glass, ceramic, glass, leather and loads of plastics etc.
Usually good to test it out if you are not sure. Hope this helps. Are you thinking of using it for something specific ?

[fanman7]

Hmmmm was thinking of putting sugru "feet" at the corner of my chopping board. The plasticy white kind you like the one here - board pic Do you think it will adhere to this material?

[projectsugru]

looks like nylon, a naturally self lubricating plastic, so the answer is no :(

However, as this is an engineering plastic, you can screw a small crew into it and then build the sugru around the screw :) It's a bit more complicated but will definitely work.

Would love to see an ible for that :)

[fanman7]

Good idea! I want to put the feet on both sides of the board so maybe put a screw through the board so it sticks out both sides and adhere the sugru to it! I also have a few wooden boards that will work as well.... Slipping cutting boards are dangerous. Right now I use a sheet of carpet pad underneath them but they are cumbersome. HACK IT WITH SUGRU!

[projectsugru]

YAY :)

no need for screws on the wood, it will bond brilliantly to that :)

[tarepanday]

thanks for your reply, im thinking of maybe my pair of broken rainboots, it has pattern on it so i might have to blend it to the right color

i have thought of making a key holder with sugru on the wall, but i afraid i might take off the paint when i move away one day. btw, do you just use strong force to tear sugru away if you want to remove it one day? for example on an iphone or the wall, are there tips on removing it?

one more question, how does spray painting or painting in general work on sugru? im thinking of spray painting one of my projects that uses sugru with a silver chrome colour....

[projectsugru]

To remove sugru, you can cut it away and then remove the remainder bits by rubbing it off with the back of your finger nail, take a look at this video, it demonstrates removing sugru - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ0d0JkSrvY

So on your wall it should be possible to remove it without damaging the paint. However, the paint is the weakest link there and will be the first to fail if you apply a lot of force / weight to the key holder. But as it is just a key holder, it should be totally fine.

We haven't painted sugru ourselves but we have heard that it tends to flake off.

Hope this helps.
James

[eman_p]

How well will sugru stick to a painted wall? Will it be possible to remove and clean up after it's up for a while? I'm thinking about doing this for coat racks by the front door to have something cool and different.

[sugrujane]

Hi eman_p, in my experience, sugru bonds to paint very well, make sure the surface is clean though. When I remove sugru from a pained surface, it takes the paint off with it, I just repaint the surface afterwards :)

[eman_p]

Sweet, thanks Jane! I guess I'll decide when my sugru arrives... I'm thinking that customizing the house and enjoying it while I'm here is better than avoiding anything that will lead to a little bit of white paint on move out ;)

[blacksmith_tb]

I assume that adding more than one ball of Sugru per twig would increase the holding power. The current arrangement looks like it will pry itself off the wall, over time, as the downward force on the hook seems likely to cause the bottom of the twig to move in towards the wall slightly when weighted. Sugru is flexible, but still I'd think loading and unloading may lead to failure sooner than if a second bit of Sugru were added near the bottom of the twig, also stuck to the wall (or even as a bumper, not stuck to the wall).

[amagriva]

Very nice! Do you or any reader know the name (brand) with "Sugru" is sold in Europe? Ciaoo!

[projectsugru]

Hi amagriva, we sell sugru direct from our website www.sugru.com/buy and we ship all over the world :-)

[mdeblasi1]

I can't believe you just got me to immediately go and order some sugru!!! I am not like that, I don't go off buying stuff on the internet at midnight, but I can't believe I've lived this long without this stuff.

[Kryptonite]

Nice, I really ought to get some sugru! It looks like brilliant stuff and I can think of a few things I can use it for...

[kemper]

have you tested the weight capacity for this amazing hack?

[projectsugru]

Hi Kemper, I'm afraid we haven't tested the weight loading for this, there are just too many variables, from the strength of the twig to the strength of the substrate bonded to. With all hacks, just use common a bit of common sense. I have made a few of these and they are surprisingly strong, sorry I can't be more specific :)

[Electrocutables]

This is pretty cool; I'd also like to know how much this can hold on average.

[Whales]

"I love twigs!" best quote ever.