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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: 1001 Uses for Wire Coathangers
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
Posted on the Get Into Heaven Free thread:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Wire coathangers, for when you need a more robust and longer piece of bendy wire to fasten bigger things, break into the quarter light of the car when you have lost the key, invent a fixing to prevent someone breaking into the quarter light, make an Advent wreath, hook something out of the drain, replace the radio aerial on the car...
Bend one into the shape of a star and place it on top of a burner on the stove. A pot placed on top of it will stay warm, whereas without it even the lowest temperature setting will make the pot boil.
So what do you use wire coathangers for?
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
I use them for roasting marshmallows at the beach, as God intended, of course.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
They are an extinct item at my house, but once upon a time I would snip the middle, curl the ends and use that to hang plants from tree limbs.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Hanging up dead cats.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I was watching "Cry Freedom" last night, and in the early Soweto scenes they showed a kid pulling what looked like a toy truck made out of coat hangers.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
When I lived in Zambia in the mid-60s, I saw a lot of those--but the wire was a bit thicker. I'm not sure what it came from, but not coat hangers, I think.
However, I used a coat hanger, a tea strainer, and a carpenter's clamp to make a very effective pop filter for a microphone.
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Reuben
Shipmate
# 11361
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Posted
In the good old days you could break into a car with one by popping the door lock mechanism.
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"I got nothing." Barrie Unsworth
Posts: 227 | From: New South Wales | Registered: May 2006
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
A much-loved maori comedian some years ago gave us the maori word for a car radio aerial: kotanga.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
When I've been poor at Christmas, I've bent the bodies of wire hangers into circles and twist scads of white, fluffy rectangles of tissue around them to make fluffy wreaths. Add red bows and and some red sequins and you've got decorations galore with their own hooks. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I have made these before. They are fun.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Many cars down here used to have a coathanger twisted around and ends jammed in aerial socket for the car radio. A bit of experimenting showed the right shape. I haven't seen these nearly as much since aerials were made retractable.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Polly Plummer
Shipmate
# 13354
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Posted
I do wish I'd known a few years ago that wire coat hangers were on the way to extinction, after dry cleaners went over to plastic ones. We only have one left in the house now and are preserving it for a job where it's really needed.
Posts: 577 | Registered: Jan 2008
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
When we were children we used to straighten them, leaving a loop at the bottom with a diameter off about 4 to 6inches which we would dip in dishwashing detergent, the swish in the air to make really bpg bubbles.
I think i might rescue a couple when I go up to clean out my father's house, there are heaps there.
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
Long ago when gas furnaces had pilot lights, our pilot light kept going out. Someone from the gas company always came to fix it free, but meanwhile we were cold.
The technician had a device for reaching a lighted match into the proper place. My husband made a similar device by soldering an alligator clip onto the end of a straightened coat hanger.
Mo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Blocked overflow pipe.
Reaching something that has fallen down the back of the bookcase.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
As part of mobiles, actually I do one with two of the fishing wire and unwanted freebie cds or dvds. It is simple and because the light reflects off the cds and dvds it entertains people (I was going to say babies but my Mum made sure she had one as well because she liked them so much).
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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WhateverTheySay
Shipmate
# 16598
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
As part of mobiles, actually I do one with two of the fishing wire and unwanted freebie cds or dvds. It is simple and because the light reflects off the cds and dvds it entertains people (I was going to say babies but my Mum made sure she had one as well because she liked them so much).
Jengie
I'm sure I can recall vaguely making mobiles out of wire coathangers when I was about 5 or 6. I think they made good Christmas decorations if I remember rightly.
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I'm not lost, I just don't know where I am going
Posts: 872 | From: Lost in Space, without a map | Registered: Aug 2011
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Zacchaeus
Shipmate
# 14454
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Posted
The uk children's programme Blue Peter, used to make an advent wreath out of coathangers every year..
Posts: 1905 | From: the back of beyond | Registered: Jan 2009
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
the best thing for blocked toilets
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
the obvious, yes? a little bit of B&E. I'm really, really skilled at locking myself out of my car or house.
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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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kaytee
Shipmate
# 3482
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Posted
Yes I remember making mobiles with them, also hooking something out that was stuck behind the radiator.
Also dowsing rods. I don't remember whether they worked, so probably they didn't!
Posts: 152 | From: Hertfordshire, UK | Registered: Oct 2002
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Oh, they work as dowsing rods. That trick I've done.
I was given them as an experiment as a teenager. "Just hold these like that and walk across there and see what happens". It's very spooky when they just move in your hands and cross. It's even spookier to be told that with me (and it was only me in the crowd I was with) that I was finding the underground pipes accurately.
We all had a go and then were told by the farmer what we were doing. He'd paid a dowser to come in and find out where the pipes ran under his farmyard before having some work done and wondered if anyone could do it. He couldn't and was wondering how common it was. Apparently not very.
One of the others had the wires move in their hands, but not so definitely and not this very clear crossing over, apparently in exactly the right places. He had me check them all out to see if I was consistent.
I was a school friend of his daughter.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
I was given them as an experiment as a teenager. "Just hold these like that and walk across there and see what happens". It's very spooky when they just move in your hands and cross. It's even spookier to be told that with me (and it was only me in the crowd I was with) that I was finding the underground pipes accurately.
Yes, it works every time for me too - supersensitive to water?
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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Jahlove
Tied to the mast
# 10290
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Posted
DIY abortion
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“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.” - Mark Twain
Posts: 6477 | From: Alice's Restaurant (UK Franchise) | Registered: Sep 2005
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Turning on a broken computer switch. (A broken coathanger has made me the SoF poster I am today....)
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
If you have enough of them you could build a Faraday cage and escape from the internet and mobile phone signals.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Put a wiener or marshmallow on it and roast it over an open fire. A standard Canadian use.
[caution]
But do not heat up the coat hanger to red hot and then inadvertently brand the person beside you. Many tears have been shed over sticky marshmallow containing burns.
[/caution]
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Cryptic
Shipmate
# 16917
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Posted
Use them for anytjing except hanging a coat - a nice broad shouldered hanger is much better for your coat... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
As wire coathangers become less common, it's well worth keeping a roll of wire handy, and a good pair of pliers which will make the manipulation ar any wire so much easier!
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Illegitimi non carborundum
Posts: 225 | From: Sydney | Registered: Feb 2012
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Cryptic:
As wire coathangers become less common, it's well worth keeping a roll of wire handy, and a good pair of pliers which will make the manipulation ar any wire so much easier!
Would that be Number 8 fencing wire? It is a fundamental belief here that a New Zealander can fix anything with a piece of #8 wire.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
We used so much of that stuff we built our own spinner for it. Very useful. It's much better quality than a wire hanger. The thought of food being roasted on one makes my stomach turn.
[ 18. June 2012, 10:28: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Two hangers bent into wing shapes and covered with white fabric add a tutu and white T-shirt for a fancy dress fairy outfit.
The easiest hanger conversion is to use it as a hanger. Sew up the bottom of an old T-shirt, put a hanger in as usual and you have a peg bag for hanging the washing out.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Cryptic
Shipmate
# 16917
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Galloping Granny:
Would that be Number 8 fencing wire? It is a fundamental belief here that a New Zealander can fix anything with a piece of #8 wire.
GG
Not fencing wire specifically, just the rolls of general purpose wire that can be bought at hardware stores. A small roll is cheap so you can afford to keep a few different thicknesses on hand.
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Illegitimi non carborundum
Posts: 225 | From: Sydney | Registered: Feb 2012
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
My daughter had to dress as a squirrel (don't ask). I bought a man's large brown sweatshirt from a charity shop for £3, and adapted. The tail was the cut off hem of the sweatshirt stiffened with a bent coat hanger. Result!
The other squirrel's mother had carved a loofah into a perfect squirrel-tail shape, and then knitted a made-to-measure cover for the said loofah out of fluffy wool the perfect shade of squirrel.
I had the last laugh. By simply removing the coat hanger and adding plastic teeth my outfit became a Hallowe'en werewolf, and by rebending the coat hanger to fit round the head and adding ears, it became the Christmas Nativity play donkey.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
Scratching the part of your back you can't reach.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
Before I finally found some wax incense burners (to use for burning resin incense relatively smokelessly), I had found - I think through help from the Ship! - websites saying how to make incense burners out of coat hangers. It didn't work, but in the process I was told this is also a common drug paraphernalia. Basically, the idea was to bend the coat hanger so there are 2 loops on either end, then bend it so that one loop is the stand and the other loop is positioned above it. Then you place foil over the top loop, and a votive candle in the bottom loop. IME, it just caught the aluminum foil on fire!
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Polly Plummer:
I do wish I'd known a few years ago that wire coat hangers were on the way to extinction, after dry cleaners went over to plastic ones. We only have one left in the house now and are preserving it for a job where it's really needed.
Are they? My drycleaner still uses them and I have a wardrobe full!
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Morlader
Shipmate
# 16040
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
My daughter had to dress as a squirrel (don't ask). I bought a man's large brown sweatshirt from a charity shop for £3, and adapted. The tail was the cut off hem of the sweatshirt stiffened with a bent coat hanger. Result!
The other squirrel's mother had carved a loofah into a perfect squirrel-tail shape, and then knitted a made-to-measure cover for the said loofah out of fluffy wool the perfect shade of squirrel.
I had the last laugh. By simply removing the coat hanger and adding plastic teeth my outfit became a Hallowe'en werewolf, and by rebending the coat hanger to fit round the head and adding ears, it became the Christmas Nativity play donkey.
Recycling ...!... ![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
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.. to utmost west.
Posts: 858 | From: Not England | Registered: Nov 2010
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
When I was fifteen or so and couldn't afford real drum equipment, I fashioned a cymbal holder out of a coat hanger and some metal bits and pieces. I found an old pie tin at a yard sale, punched holes in it and hung it from the coat hanger which was attached to a rickety cymbal stand... some of my found objects actually sounded decent.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
Bend one into the shape of a star and place it on top of a burner on the stove. A pot placed on top of it will stay warm, whereas without it even the lowest temperature setting will make the pot boil.
You have an all-electric kitchen don't you? A gas cooker would make it red-hot or burn it up, I would think.
When I was a kid and cars had frameless door glass, you could easily get past a side window to break into your car and retrieve the key you had locked in it! (You couldn't do that in the last car I drove but did not own: the Jaguar senses the presence of a key fob in your pocket, lets you in and you push a big red button to start it. Then the gear selector rises from the centre console so you can put the car in gear automatically or select the flappy paddles on the back of the steering wheel for even more supercharged fun!)
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Or, more seriously, and genuinely horrifying, David Mach's larger-than life sculpture of Jesus crucified made entirely of coathangers.
Reminds me of "Pinhead" from the Hellraiser movies. Dreadful! Thanks for potentially giving me nightmares!
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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