Okay, so Kosh calls it my purse, and I suppose that is what it is called in the US. In Malaysia, it is usually called a handbag.
I, however, don't like either term. What I have is essentially a rugged yet delicate small leather backpack-like thing, bought in Switzerland in 2003. It's a bag. Nuff said.Thing is, one of the thingamajigs broke (circled in red - click to embiggen).
What's broken isn't obvious in the photo right now, because we have tried to fix it. You see how there's a male and female component? Well, the female component, the ring, had a little piece break off. So we glued the piece back on (with male component in place within it), made sure it dried properly, all that jazz. I used the fixed bag once and ooops whaddayaknow, "he" slipped out of "her"!
I have no idea how to replace the thingy, even if I knew where to source a replacement. I don't even know what to call it ("a carabiner type connection with swiveling capability"?), hence the catch-all "thingy".
I've been wondering about bringing it to a shoe repair place: they work with leather, so I wonder if they also work with bags, or at least know of someone who might. But which shoe repair place? None that I've passed by downtown seem to do anything except shoes, and I seem to have accepted a defeatist attitude about this.
.. and yet ... I miss my bag, and want it fixed!!
Y'all have any suggestions?
... That don't involve getting a new one, that is!
... because here in Chez Naranek, we try to fix things up as best we can, squeezing maximum value and use out of something before discarding it ... like my winter boots, for example.
Last winter, the zipper handle broke. You know, the little piece that you hold on to when you pull the zipper head up or down? Yeah, that little thing went bye-bye.
The zipper itself was working well, and the boots were still in good shape, so throwing them out just because of that little broken piece would have been such a waste.So first I used a paper clip: threaded it through the hole in the zipper head, and used that as a handle. Worked well enough, but it was a dinky thing that bent when force was applied, and would poke my fingers kinda painfully. Recently, Kosh and I searched the apartment for a possible replacement for the paper clip: key chain loops, those little rosary bead-like chains, all too big to thread through the tiny zipper head hole.
Finally found something that worked - can anyone identify what we used?
and checking out my other blog: a malaysian abroad |
Any Cobbler (Shoe repair) place could fix your leather bag. Check the phone book for shoe repair.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
http://lolasdiner.blogspot.com/
Hi Lynne,
ReplyDeletePlease collect your Award at:
http://dfoolonthehill.com/?p=1073
Lynne,
ReplyDeleteThat "thingy" for your bag can be fixed. All that it takes is to get someone to do the following.
1. Get a screw with a large top (head) that will not go through the "female".
2. Get the "male" bored with a hole about the circumference of the threaded part of the screw.
3. Test first whether the screw can be screwed into the "male" before proceeding to the final process. The screw fit must not be loose. A bit of resistance will be good.
4. Get some metal epoxy glue (easily sold in the hardware shops) and apply a small amount to the screw length. Do not apply too much that it spills all over.
5. Then put the screw through the "female" and bring it to screw into the "male". Let there be a small gap between the screw top (head) so that the hinge and swivel.
6. Allow the epoxy to hardened so that it securely fastens the screw and not unscrew through constant movement of the bag.
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About the Shoe zip fastener. Here is a practical solution.
Use a key chain holder. The one that looks like the alphabet "O". These kind are the ones that allow as many keys as it can hold to be placed on it.
Get one that fits the "female" aperture of the fastener so that the key ring can go through it.
~ tadaaaa!
Lola> Okay maybe I'll remember to bring the bag next time I'm heading downtown... :)
ReplyDeleteWindmill> thanks for the award! :) And the suggested steps for both bag and zip issues. What you describe for the bag sounds doable, but I would be concerned about aesthetics since this is my one and only "nice" bag... as for the zipper - the head of the zipper is really small, so it's a challenge to find anything that fine. I think I know what type of keychain you are talking about though, and that's a great idea!