( CNN ) -- ItÂ´s the ultimate repair tool . A silicone material that can be shaped like playdough , can bond to almost any surface and after a few hours of exposure to air becomes a super tough , durable rubber . `` Sugru '' - coming from the Irish word for `` play '' - is now being used to fix leaky pipes , create custom-made handles and even help a disabled , fingerless canoeist modify one of her paddles . Unlike existing moldable putty , Sugru does n't go rock hard when dry , but stays flexible , waterproof and heat resistant up to 180 degrees Celsius ( 356 degrees Fahrenheit ) . `` We think that Sugru can be something as big or bigger than duct tape , superglue or anything else that you use to repair , '' says its Irish-born inventor Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh . However , like many great inventions before , it only came into existence by chance . Ni Dhulchaointigh , a design student at the Royal College of Art in London at the time , had been messing around in the workshop , trying out new combinations of materials when she started mixing silicone adhesive and wood-waste into small balls . They looked like wood when finished , but when you threw them on the floor they would bounce . `` I thought , that 's random , '' says Ni Dhulchaointigh , who admits many other designers might have then left it at that . `` But for me , I knew that there was something there . There was something a little bit magical . I just did n't know what it was . '' It was only as she began using bits of the material around her home to repair things that she had what she calls her `` eureka moment '' and came to realize its real usefulness and application . `` Every time I 'd make up a batch of it for my experiments , I 'd have bits left over . I hate wasting stuff so I started using the leftovers around my house just to fix little things , I modified a kitchen knife that was really uncomfortable . My sink plug was just slightly too small , so I just made a little ring to make that work . `` I was doing it completely unconsciously . And I was there beating myself up going , I ca n't find the application for this material , until my boyfriend James said to me one night , maybe there 's not this one perfect thing for this material . Maybe what you 're doing in the kitchen is actually the thing . '' It took six years of hard work before the first packs of her material were being sold to consumers . Her story from the workshop to marketplace , together with the help of business partners and friends , has been a familiar one of luck , near bankruptcy and late salvation . `` It has been a long journey , '' she says . `` First of all , the technology has been difficult to invent . But second of all , you know , we 're not a big company with big budgets behind us . '' Send your photos of Sugru fixes to CNN 's iReport . `` We 've been doing it on a shoestring for years . And anyone who 's ever pitched for investment funding will know it 's a bitch . It 's really difficult for an unlikely group of people to get investment funding . I mean , we probably pitched to over 100 investors where we got , maybe two or three over the years . '' Around 2008 , five years after she first came up with the idea , with a product almost ready to launch , Jane and her small team of partners found themselves close to running out of money , as promised investment from major manufacturers failed to materialize . Watch : See how versatile and strong Sugru is . In a last ditch attempt , they decided to scrape together enough money to build their own `` little cottage industry factory '' and do it themselves . And with the help of family and friends they put together 1,000 packs . `` What we 're quite good at is design , it 's what we do , so we had a fantastic package design and a really great website design . When we went live it looked like we were much bigger than we were . '' From that point , the investors came on board fast and in less than three years they have ballooned to annual sales of $ 2 million , a staff of 25 and a customer base of more than 100,000 across 100 countries . Perhaps , the most unique thing about Sugru is that its practical uses is being demonstrated not by its inventor , but by the general public . Thousands of people have posted comments and pictures on Twitter , YouTube and other websites showing how they have put the material to good use . `` We get emails every day with pictures and stories of what people have done . They do things with it that we could n't have dreamed of . It feels like magic sometimes . '' Ni Dhulchaointigh says her product is the ultimate tool in the battle against wastefulness . `` I think it can really benefit our urban way of life , where we depend so much on buying new things all the time and replacing them if they 're not quite right . It 's not only wasteful , but it does n't make the most of us as human beings with all the potential that we have . ''
Sugru is a self - setting synthetic material which is tight to almost any surface . Irish inventor tells CNN about how she created the versatile product and its worldwide success . Silicone - based product looks like putty but is extremely strong and supple . It hacks regularly posted on Facebook and YouTube by satisfied users .