AUGUST Repair Cafe News

Above: Repair Cafe enthusiast Bryan Cronk celebrates getting his fan fixed at the Livingston Manor Repair Cafe in July. (photo credit Maria Bivins).

Above: Rafael Delgado, Co-organizer of Beacon/Fishkill Repair Cafes, gives a tutorial on watch battery replacement from his workshop at Watchpital.

Want to Change Your Own Watch Battery?

Let us Show you How!

We see a LOT of watches at our Repair Cafes these days--it can be hard to find a place to get the batteries replaced or do other simple repairs like removing metal links or replacing a cracked leather band. Sometimes our jewelry repair people or someone in the mechanical area can do it but sometimes you're out of luck. Well, no more! We filmed this wonderful watch battery replacement tutorial this month with Rafael Delgado of Watchpital and it is now up on our RCHV YouTube channel. Rafael is a skilled jeweler and clock and watch repairer as well as a passionate advocate for repair cafes; he's co-organizer for the joint Beacon/Fishkill Repair Cafe in Dutchess County. In this incredible video he walks us through not only how to open up a variety of watch backs but also warns of pitfalls to watch out for and what NOT to attempt on your own. Best of all? If you're close to Fishkill, NY, his shop only charges $10 per watch to replace a battery.

Lots of repair cafes for you on August 3rd (including a knife sharpening class from 1-2pm at the Pleasant Valley cafe) and a smattering throughout the rest of the month including a NEW cafe at the Putnam Valley Library. And there'll be a second summer rendition of the Gardiner Locust Lawn Repair Cafe. And if you're looking for Vince Murray for metal/welding repairs or lawn mower blade sharpening, word on the street is that he'll be in Pleasant Valley on Aug. 3 and Rhinebeck on Aug. 10.

Jewelry Repair Workshop at Gardiner Locust Lawn Cafe 8/25

We'll be doing a little on site jewelry repair workshop during the outdoor Gardiner Locust Lawn Repair Cafe happening at the end of the month on Sunday, August 25th. If you are interested in participating, please email suziefromer@gmail.com so she can send you a suggested list of supplies and tools to bring if you have them; if not, we'll have enough to share. We'd be happy to continue your jewelry repair apprenticeship by having you partner with an experienced jewelry repair coach at subsequent repair cafes!

(Above) Traditional toys on display at Locust Lawn last summer; these special events include an emphasis on traditional repair methods.

Help us keep Repair Cafe Hudson Valley going strong! Please consider donating at the link below. Donations go to our fiscal sponsor, the 501(c)3 Sustainable Hudson Valley, but will be earmarked for RCHV if you make a note saying it is for Repair Cafes. Thank you!

Repair Coach Corner

Repair Coach Kisook Suh (right) poses with a guest showing off with a successful knit repair at the June Rivertowns Repair Cafe in Irvington.

Kisook Suh, Clothing, Textiles, Knitwear

Cafes: Rivertowns Repair Cafes

Sometimes fixers find repair cafes. Other times, repair cafes find them.

Last April, Kisook Suh saw a posting about an Earth Day Repair Cafe happening in her adopted hometown of Tarrytown. She reached out and offered to volunteer as a textile repair coach and we just could not believe our good fortune. Kisook is not merely experienced in fixing textiles and knitwear, she is a literal expert! She has worked as a textile conservator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art for almost 18 years. “I mainly take care of tapestries in the collections of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. Conservators need to deal with many generations of historical repairs when we work on tapestries in such collections. I always try to think about what the repairers before me were thinking when I am repairing their work.”

She studied and trained to be a textile conservator in NYC after receiving a degree from Fashion Institute of Technology. Before working for The Met, Kisook was a conservator at the National Folk Museum of Korea. In addition to her volunteer work for the Rivertowns Repair Cafes, she is also a member of the Sustainability Committee of the American Institute for Conservation.

What does she do in her ‘spare’ time? “Whenever I have time, I take care of my garden and repair clothes that are waiting to be fixed. I am a beginner in gardening but brave enough to experiment with transforming a patch of front yard lawn into a small wildflower meadow.” But her true passion is the perfect fix. “When I fixed a small hole on a sweater with a matching-colored yarn, I was thrilled to see just a few stitches reconstructed the damaged area perfectly. What a reward! As a textile conservator, seeing the object regain its original structure/look is the happiest thing.”

Kisook says she would be happy connect with people who are interested in repairs and implementing sustainable practices; if you are interested in reaching her, you can do so at kisooksuh08@gmail.com. And though it’s hard for her to find the time (she’s also a mom; her daughter was incredibly helpful at the last Irvington Repair Café this past June), Kisook would really like to do more teaching repair, so we’ll put our thinking caps on and see if we can’t come up with a workshop where she can share her unbelievable expertise with the repair café community. She has also mentioned that if it worked out with her schedule, she wouldn’t be opposed to joining me as I ventured to a farther café to do textile repairs--so if you have a delicate or special object, particularly knitwear, that needs some TLC, please reach out to suziefromer@gmail.com and we can see if we can bring Kisook to a café near you.

RCHV in the News

Guests enjoy our kids table at the most recent Croton Repair Cafe in July (photo credit Suzie Fromer).