Bummer!

Yes, today I'm feeling a little bummed out.  I was so excited about the "gourmet" shoelaces I was working on. I loved the way they looked, and couldn't wait to finish them.  To do the agets, I needed a way to heat the shrink tubing. Everyplace I looked suggested using a heat gun.  I couldn't find the heat gun that Mary had loaned me.  I have looked everywhere I could think of, but alas, no heat gun.  So, when Rod suggested that I try ironing them between sheets of parchment, I thought it might be a viable solution.  And I thought they looked pretty good.  I gave the first pair to Izzy, since she loves pink and her own shoelaces were in really bad shape.  Unfortunately, when Kristin tried to put them into Izzy's sneakers, they wouldn't fit through the grommets, and in the end, the tips pulled off.  That was not acceptable.  I couldn't sell them like that.

And although I've searched again, I still haven't located the heat gun.  I googled making aglets, and read that someone suggested using a curling iron.  I plugged mine in, turned it on to "turbo" and tried it on the shoelaces.  And it was a bust!  The aglets are no smaller.  I have pulled the laces from Etsy until I can solve the problem.  So, I guess I have four choices - either I break down and buy a heat gun, I search every nook and cranny until I find the gun Mary loaned me (which I need to find anyway), I find another way to make the aglets, or I chalk the shoelaces up to a very good idea that just didn't pan out.

Today is very gloomy, which probably is aided to my "bummed out" feeling.  And as Annie says," The sun will come out tomorrow".