Recently our family had a highly entertaining conversation about duct tape. This is one of the most interesting items ever invented. It has moved so far beyond it's original job of sealing air ducts that it should have its own Encyclopedia Brittanica volume.
We started naming all the different ways we could think of that duct tape has been used. We found examples in home repair and decoration, automotive repair, gardening, personal accessorizing, the entertainment industry (Red Green is a duct tape master). We laughed alot coming up with our personal list of duct tape applications. We've used duct tape to hang christmas lights; we keep the cable cord in place by taping it to the floor; in the winter we keep tape the front door shut to block the arctic drafts leaking in around the edges. We've repaired pet cages with it (of course, it didn't stop the escape artist hamster. But it did deter the birds, at least until they tried eating it). I arrived home from work one evening to find my kids had used duct tape to hang random items of decoration from the kitchen ceiling (cracker box, phone book, tv remote, flashlight, Shopko ad, and a 2 liter pop bottle with pop still inside, among other things). Several years ago I dropped my bread machine (aaagh! tragedy!) so we now use duct tape to keep the door shut when we are using it. We have taped shoes back together and made slipper bottoms when ours wore out. It has come in handy for attaching a light switch to a wall and holding up the interior of the roof of the car. (that one was funny - i found out later my brother had done the same thing). A friend of my daughter's made wallets entirely of duct tape. I still have mine somewhere. My husband made a battery pack for bubble lights once out of duct tape so he could use triple A batteries instead of double A batteries. Seriously. He actually told me how he did it. In detail.
My kids some years ago made crayon shooters with the neighbor boy involving a stick, a clothespin, a rubberband and duct tape. They actually shot crayons pretty far. (sigh. I was finding green and blue and pink wax blobs in the grass all summer long.)
We've watched tv shows devoted entirely to duct tape. Red Green is our hero....he is, in our opinion, the duct tape king. Mythbusters made a cannon and a boat entirely of duct tape, and suspended a car in the air from a crane with it. There's even a movie about duct tape. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa3X-5wuhb0&feature=related
We recently ran across this interesting bit of trivia online: "The application of 'duct tape' is a safe and apparently effective treatment approach worth trying. Any color duct tape is applied to the wart, which is kept covered 24 hours a day, six out of seven days a week, for six weeks. " emedicinehealth.com
umm....okay? who discovered THAT?
Of course we couldn't stop with just listing what we've ALREADY done. So we began thinking of ways to apply duct tape that we haven't yet tried. Would it work to pull a tooth? How about a substitute for hot wax hair remover? Maybe shiny flypaper? Could you roof a house with it? Meandering around YouTube, I found examples of people making sculptures, flowers, even clothing out of duct tape. Not to mention the myriad of automotive applications. Here's a short example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BSDZJSKiVI&feature=related
After all this mental meandering (and lots of laughter), I have come to the conclusion that duct tape is a must have item for every person. it would seem to be the perfect housewarming/shower/birthday gift. You never know when you might need to fix something, or entertain your guests, or cure a skin flaw. And these days it comes in a wide array of colors. You can find it in its original dignified silver, blue, pink, purple and even tie dye.
Really, tie dye. I saw it.
As Red Green says, If they don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
