Sometimes it seems the simplest solutions are the best.The pic is of my tablet bag- one of those large so-called 'airport holdalls'. Though my weekly tabs are dealt with by my carer, I keep a couple of other bits and bobs in there I use on a daily basis.
Problem is, those twiddly little zip fasteners. Very hard, if not impossible at times, to grab hold of. So came up with that multicoloured grip you see attached to a zipper. Despite it's simple appearance, a lot of thought went into it.
I needed something that was simple to make. The major consideration was to have something that was flexible, had a rough surface I could grip, stayed gripped once I'd held it, and could cope with wear and tear. Most of all, it had to be cheap :)
I spent a long time playing with a piece of string. That kept the cat quiet. The string on it's own might have fit the job - I could wrap it around my hand - but it just looked all dangly and untidy. The string tended to fray and snap too - not good. So the string was strengthened by soaking it in PVA glue. That also prevented it from fraying. Much better. The advantage of PVA glue is that it's cheap, easy to use and dries transparent.
Why not use rope? Didn't have any handy that was thin enough to fit through the eye of the zipper - and hey, remember, the whole idea was to keep this cheap. The other disadvantage of rope is that it's difficult to knot and keep knotted.
The downside was using just string made it a two handed job - using my good hand to wrap it around the hand I preferred to use. Also meant that the now strengthened string had to quite long - which was an accident waiting to happen. So I needed short, and I needed grip.
Then I spied , lying forlornly in a dusty cluttered corner of 'Jabba' (my hut), a short length of "save 'till later in case it came in handy" (it's a fella thing) quarter beading. Ding! Light Bulb Over The Head Moment.
Cut a piece off. Well, that was crap. Tried again. Yup, likewise. Another bright idea. I noticed the pieces I was about to discard had angular corners, so I drilled holes in them, and using a rather large darning needle, fed the PVA'd string through. Got my Tots to knot it one end, and Vóla! - a puller with grip.
The stroke of genius (even tho' I say so myself) was ensuring that where possible, to ensure that no two adjoining pieces had flat edges that were together. That made sure that pointed edges always face both against the next piece and other corners outward. Grip problem resolved.
"Not enough Dad" said Tots. Naturally, she was right, so we I cut a few more. "Not pretty enough" said Tots. So with some poster paints, and a couple of coats of clear varnish, we found ourselves with the end result.
Feel free to make your own variations for whatever use for non-commercial use. Making them to sell them, however constitutes a commercial use, and if you want to make something however similar to make money, I'd appreciate it if you contacted me first. If you don't, it'll cost you :) So (c) Wheelie 2007. Have fun.
Problem is, those twiddly little zip fasteners. Very hard, if not impossible at times, to grab hold of. So came up with that multicoloured grip you see attached to a zipper. Despite it's simple appearance, a lot of thought went into it.
I needed something that was simple to make. The major consideration was to have something that was flexible, had a rough surface I could grip, stayed gripped once I'd held it, and could cope with wear and tear. Most of all, it had to be cheap :)
I spent a long time playing with a piece of string. That kept the cat quiet. The string on it's own might have fit the job - I could wrap it around my hand - but it just looked all dangly and untidy. The string tended to fray and snap too - not good. So the string was strengthened by soaking it in PVA glue. That also prevented it from fraying. Much better. The advantage of PVA glue is that it's cheap, easy to use and dries transparent.
Why not use rope? Didn't have any handy that was thin enough to fit through the eye of the zipper - and hey, remember, the whole idea was to keep this cheap. The other disadvantage of rope is that it's difficult to knot and keep knotted.
The downside was using just string made it a two handed job - using my good hand to wrap it around the hand I preferred to use. Also meant that the now strengthened string had to quite long - which was an accident waiting to happen. So I needed short, and I needed grip.
Then I spied , lying forlornly in a dusty cluttered corner of 'Jabba' (my hut), a short length of "save 'till later in case it came in handy" (it's a fella thing) quarter beading. Ding! Light Bulb Over The Head Moment.
Cut a piece off. Well, that was crap. Tried again. Yup, likewise. Another bright idea. I noticed the pieces I was about to discard had angular corners, so I drilled holes in them, and using a rather large darning needle, fed the PVA'd string through. Got my Tots to knot it one end, and Vóla! - a puller with grip.
The stroke of genius (even tho' I say so myself) was ensuring that where possible, to ensure that no two adjoining pieces had flat edges that were together. That made sure that pointed edges always face both against the next piece and other corners outward. Grip problem resolved.
"Not enough Dad" said Tots. Naturally, she was right, so we I cut a few more. "Not pretty enough" said Tots. So with some poster paints, and a couple of coats of clear varnish, we found ourselves with the end result.
Feel free to make your own variations for whatever use for non-commercial use. Making them to sell them, however constitutes a commercial use, and if you want to make something however similar to make money, I'd appreciate it if you contacted me first. If you don't, it'll cost you :) So (c) Wheelie 2007. Have fun.
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