A woolly tale…

Lest you think my only interest is scanning old photographs (which is not a bad interest mind you), I’m also interested in old cameras. I do wish I had the old Pentax my dad used to make all those images, but I have a bunch of old cameras of my own.
If you know about old cameras, you know that they can be super with just a little TLC. Mostly this involves cleaning them up a bit and, almost always, replacing the light seals. Most of the cameras I have, old Japanese models (with a couple of ancient European models tossed in), used some sort of foam strips to seal up the body against light leaks. Mostly this stuff has turned to sticky goo with the passage of time. So a good cleaning and resealing is in order.
Of course, it struck me that replacing old goo with something that might turn into new goo down the road probably isn’t a good idea. Luckily, I came across instructions on photo.net for replacing the seals with wool yarn that will outlast me. In truth, new foam might outlast me, but it might not, and I don’t want to have to do this stuff more than once if at all possible. The thread you are looking for on the forum is:
HOW TO REPLACE LIGHT SEALS WITHOUT USING FOAM STRIPS, MOVIE CAMERA STYLE
Good enough…wool yarn, a bit of glue, some velvet tape (not cake!), and satay sticks. I have the sticks and glue, but the wool yarn escaped me I’m afraid. The local box store had lots of acrylic yarn but the instructions forbid it. Further it seems to me that it was totally possible that sort would turn into goo itself. Natural fiber? Not so much.
My friend Linda came up with a solution just a block from my work. There’s a yarn store in the neighborhood. Seriously. It’s a niche market, and store to be sure…but it’s there. Off I went on my lunch break.
The store is Yarnstory and it’s upstairs on the corner of Keeaumoku Street and South King Street at 1411 S. King Street. It’s easy to find once you know, but please go their website and get full directions.
Yarnstory

While getting my lunch I dropped by, actually climbed by? The door was closed, and locked…so I knocked. I heard someone coming, the door opened, and I walked into a world of yarn. Wow! Who knew.
The young woman who opened the door was gracious, welcoming, and clearly knew a lot about yarn. She asked what I wanted and when I told her, “black wool yarn,” she asked a couple of questions I couldn’t answer. I showed her the thread (ouch!) on photo.net and she immediately grasped the idea and handed me a skein of yarn. Perfect.
We had a nice chat about yarn, sheep, photography, and the knitting class she offers…soon, but not today I think. I headed out having spent…well…next to nothing.
Here’s my wool yarn out on the street.

I’ve got to track down velvet tape, that might be a little harder. Turns out part of the problem with the wool was that Australia, the origin of the wool yarn in the article I read uses different terminology than we in the U.S.A. do for the same things. Might be the same with velvet tape. [And it is…velvet ribbon here…easy enough.]
In any case, for $6.58 I have enough black wool yarn to seal every old camera I own or am ever likely to own…even if I go nuts on eBay (which happens).