Silly Putty… It sticks to sil-nylon !

[Ken M]

__Of all of the fabrics I find the thin slippery sil-nylon just about the most challenging to work with. When I sew I often use something quick and easy like a piece of sticky tape to hold/position layers of fabric together. Well, good luck with that on silicone impregnated fabric! I have tried just about everything imaginable and have never found anything that would stick to this fabric well enough to be useful. Silicone adhesive of course works well but that’s not quick. Enter Silly Putty. A popular “toy” since the 1950’s. It’s made from silicone oil and boric acid. Check it out. It has some really bizarre physical properties.

__ At this writing I have not explored much of the potential use of silly putty as a sewing aid but I can tell you that it WILL stick to sil-nylon. I have used it to hold down a rolled hem prior to stitching. It will adhere well to the fabric but will creep if put under much tension. Oddly enough, it would not adhere to some plain nylon fabric. This needs more experimenting to see if it has any potential. I am throwing this out there hoping the MYOG “hive” here on BPL will explore the possibilities.

__Availability: Department/craft stores. It is a Crayola brand product. I found it with the party decorations and color markers (not toys). And you’ll love this…it’s cheap! It comes in plastic eggs. I got a card with two eggs for $1.99. One egg = .4 oz, approx 1 inch round ball.

 

[Jerry Adams]

amazing!

how did you figure that out?  Home many things did you try before you discovered silly putty?

[Gary Dunckel]

I’ve found that the only thing that sticks to silicone (or sil-nylon?) is another version of silicone. Enter silicone tape! My local all-everything hardware store sells various colors of 1″ x 36″ rolls of this very cool product (Rescue Tape). It’s quite useful for many disparate applications. Maybe give it a try?

[Ken M]

Jerry…  Serendipity at work.  I was looking for a solvent and there was a thread from a person looking for something to remove silly putty that their kid had applied to a silicone cooking implement .  The light came on !  How many things have I tried?  I can’t say for sure but I now have an impressive array of tapes and adhesives collected over the last few years.  There may be some industrial tapes that might work ?? But they aren’t available in small quantities or are too expensive to consider. Or quick. Or easy.

Gary…  Have you tried the siilcone tape?  What I had did not stick to S-N.  Worked good for other things.

-Ken

[Gary Dunckel]

Ken, I haven’t tried the silicone tape on silnylon. I was just guessing–sorry. I went down to my basement war room just now and tried it–it was a miserable failure!  I recently made a pot lid from a circle cut from a silicone baking sheet. For the “handle” I tried duct tape and regular Scotch tape, and neither would stick to it. But the silicone tape did. It does have some interesting applications, but it must have a different chemical composition than your Silly Putty. I’ll have to get some of that stuff. You know, to see what all it can do.

[Jerry Adams]

good one Ken : )

Roger has mentioned some tape that works with silnylon.  Kind of obscure and expensive as I remember.

Maybe he’ll wake up and read this : )

[Roger Caffin]

Yes, there are silicone tapes which stick to silnylon. Some are ‘permanent’, some are ‘peel-off’.

The permanent ones make a chemical bond, but it takes 72 hours to cure properly. I use that sort of stuff on my tents.

The peel-off ones are used for masking printed circuit boards during electroplating operations and similar things. They work reasonably well for holding silnylon while sewing. ‘Rescue tape’? Dunno, but if it works and is cheap, great. Silly Putty???? Blimey! The inverse of Blu-Tak.

Cheers

[Damon A]

Roger which silicone tapes are you referring to as I’d like to try the more permanent bonding versions?

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Damon

I haven’t bought any for a while as I still have several rolls, so my info may be out of date. The search string you want is ‘silicone transfer tape’, or maybe ‘silicone double-sided tape’. I prefer the transfer tape myself as it is more flexible. A bit more expensive than acrylic adhesive tapes, but acrylic will not bond. The adhesive is actually a siloxane polymer.

There are two sorts of silicone tapes. Some make a temporary bond – they are ‘peelable’. Useful for electro-plating etc. Others make a permanent bond but the bond takes about 72 hours to fully cure. That’s what you want.

Reps won’t have much knowledge about these tapes. They may try to offer hi-tack acrylics – don’t bother with them. You will have to do your own research.

Cheers

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