Hem Your Trousers
It’s an unwritten law that you notice your hem on your skirt or trousers has come loose just as you’re about to leave the house, and then have to spend time hunting for a needle and thread to repair it. Duct tape works really well as an emergency hem repair kit, and is especially good on thick fabrics like denim which are tough to sew through.
Get Crafty
Duct tape makes the perfect crafting material as it can be bent and shaped without losing its structure. Duct tape flowers are particularly effective and easy to make, and if you use a variety of different colours or patterned tape, you can create a whole bouquet of blooms for very little cost. Duct tape can also be wound into spirals to make beads, or fashioned into ties, flip-flops and many other sorts of accessories.
Emergency Key
If you’re prone to forgetting your keys or locking yourself out of the house, duct tape can be used to keep a key safely, somewhere that nobody would think to look for it. Tape a spare house key to the inside door of your car, or to the underside of a windowsill at the back or rear of the property.
Hammock
We all know that duct tape is very strong, so why not exploit its strength and make yourself a unique hammock to while away those summer afternoons? All you need apart from your rolls of duct tape is a couple of lengths of strong wood and some rope. Join the two lengths of wood together using long strips of tape, then weave tape backwards and forwards to form the mesh of the hammock.
Learn how to make your own duct tape hammock with this guide on Instructables.
Leaks
It’s not a permanent fix, but when push comes to shove you can use a roll of duct tape to repair a split in the hull of a small boat or canoe. It can also be used to patch up beach balls, lilos and other inflatables. Duct tape works well as a temporary measure and may extend the life of your rubber ring until the end of your holiday, but shouldn’t be relied on as a permanent repair.
Get Rid of Warts
The traditional treatments for getting rid of warts usually use chemicals to dissolve the wart or high pressured gas to freeze it off. A less high-tech, but equally effective method involves putting duct tape over the wart for seven days, removing the tape and rinsing the finger, then repeating until the wart has disappeared.
Waxing
If you can’t afford a trip to the beauty salon to have your legs and bikini line waxed, it is possible to do the job yourself with some duct tape. It takes some practice to get the technique of ripping the strips of tape off quickly, and tape isn’t as kind to your skin as the professional wax strips. It’s not the best way of waxing, but it will do at a push. Oh, and by the way - it will probably hurt like hell!
Emergency Plumbing Repairs
Burst pipes are a nightmare, and if you have sprung a leak somewhere in your home, some duct tape fixed over the leaky part will minimise damage to your property until the professionals can get there to do the job properly. Make sure to check if the duct tape is waterproof first though. You can by waterproof duct tape that you can keep in a cupboard for emergencies.
Kids Dressing Up
Wrapping your kids up in duct tape isn’t recommended (as funny as that image above is, don't do it!), but a roll of silver duct tape can instantly transform some plain cardboard into a sword, shield, suit of armour or a robot costume. It’s an easy way to make cheap and effective Halloween costumes.
Mashable has 15 ways you can make Halloween costumes with duct tape.
You may wonder why taping windows up to prepare for a storm isn't on there. The fact is that it's a complete myth that it will do anything to prevent your window from shattering, so don't bother wasting time and effort doing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment