What do some professionals do to their pointe shoes?

I have seen many dancers do all sorts of things before putting on their pointe shoes. I see some taking out cushions, hammer the box, put rubbing alcohol, rolling the shank on the floor, etc. But one dancer caught my eye when she was doing some sort of sewing on the tip! It looked really cool! She said she would first cut off the satin on the tip and then sew it back on? I didnt really understand the purpose. And on professional dancers, in pictures, I see something like this (Maria Alexandrova): http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2152/2187361481_a2e45a5fba.jpg or http://ljplus.ru/img4/s/y/sy_lexx/P5081867i.JPG . Why do they do this? And HOW do they do this? Very interesting...