If you’ve got a green thumb and like to play around in your garden, you’ll love this next hack. You don’t need to spend money on artsy little labels for your plants when you can simply create your own. Get as creative as you like and use different colors as you see fit.
All you need to make these labels are some popsicle sticks, tape, and (optional) sharpies. Mark the names of each different types of seeds so you can easily keep an eye on their progress.
Open Your Jars Easily
We’ve all been in that place where we’ve got dinner going, and we’re starving, and all we need to add is just that one last ingredient – but the jar won’t budge. This sounds like a job for your handy, dandy duct tape!
Next time you can’t get those pickles to pop open for your (otherwise) amazing turkey sandwich, try this tip. Just make sure you press the tape into the can very well at first, otherwise it will just peel right back off.
…And Your Own Boat
So, this one isn’t something that should be taken very lightly, although it could make a fun project! Also, if you do decide to try it – make sure that everyone who’s with you is in a life vest, just in case. But theoretically, this could work, as long as you’ve got the other necessary components and a ton of tape.
If you ever find yourself in a “build your own boat quickly” competition, hopefully, you’ll remember this image and take home first place! Just be careful out on the water in a boat that’s entirely held together with duct tape.
Fix Your Shoelaces
Shoelaces tend to start going before the actual shoe. They fray, and eventually, the little plastic piece that seals the lace falls off. If you’re in a spot where it’s not possible to get a new pair of shoelaces at the moment, duct tape has your back!
Grab your roll and snip off a small piece, maybe about an inch and a half or so. Press it down and wrap it around the lace, sealing it as best as you possibly can. This will at least help you out until you can get to the store, though it’s not exactly stylish.
Outdoor Pillow Covers
This is another thing that may take a bit of skill to actually create something that looks like a work of art, but if you think you can do it – go for it! Or, if you just need to cover your outdoor pillows because, well, for some reason, you really need an outdoor pillow stat, this is for you!
Maybe you’re getting ready to throw a barbeque in your backyard and you want your friends to sit in style on your patio? Or, maybe you just love this idea and are ready to create one of your own!
Mark Your Luggage
Traveling can be a nightmare, period. Dealing with all of the rushing, and the traffic, and the people, and the luggage, blah – it’s just not very fun. Plus, 2/10 times something goes wrong with your luggage, which just makes it that much crazier.
Keep an eye on your bags and make sure no one accidentally walks off with yours, thinking that it’s their own, by marking it with a duct tape luggage tag. Tip: use a bright color to make it stand out even more. Then again, I guess silver duct tape hanging off of a suitcase would stick out, too.
Get a Grip
If you tend to work with your hands a lot, you’ve probably already got some serious calluses from all of the manual labor. If you don’t, though, and you’ve got a situation that calls for a lot of it, you may want to try this trick to protect your hands from being rubbed raw by the metal tools.
Just wrap a couple of layers of your tape around the handgrip of your tools (pliers, hammers, etc.) Not only will this help keep your hands from blistering, but it will also help you to be more precise with the work, as you don’t have to worry about any slippage – at least, not as much as you would have to without this handy little hack.
Label Your Seeds
If you’ve got a green thumb and like to play around in your garden, you’ll love this next hack. You don’t need to spend money on artsy little labels for your plants when you can simply create your own. Get as creative as you like and use different colors as you see fit.
All you need to make these labels are some popsicle sticks, tape, and (optional) sharpies. Mark the names of each different types of seeds so you can easily keep an eye on their progress.
Plug a Hole in Your Tire
Popping a hole in the tire of your car can be the absolute worst. And sometimes, you may not realize that it’s happened until you're forced to pull over because your car starts feeling more like a boat. But never fear – duct tape is here – and it’s ready to get the job done quickly.
This trick won’t save you from having to buy a new tire eventually, but it will give you a temporary solution so that if you can’t afford to go in for the next few days or weeks, you should be able to make it to and from work, at least. Make sure to keep a roll in the glove compartment for any roadside emergencies.
Save a Friend
If at any point you’re hiking through the woods with a friend who happens to break their leg or something – you don’t have to panic. This is why you should carry duct tape around with you basically everywhere. Since it can hold so much weight, it can even be used to create a makeshift stretcher.
If you’re really in the woods, you may be able to find some large enough branches to support the person’s weight. If you’re around an area where you can find some actual poles, even better. Just make sure you test it out before you actually put your injured buddy on it.
Make Your Own Sled
See? You’ve probably never thought about creating an entire sled out of duct tape, have you? But think about it, when you were younger and that snow would fall, and everyone else had their sleds, but you forgot that the one from last year broke and you hadn’t gotten a new one, yet? Don’t let the same thing happen to your kiddos and grand kiddos!
If there’s a perfect day for sledding and no sled, you don’t have to worry as long as you’ve got plenty of duct tape. All it takes is a cardboard box or two and loads of the sticky stuff. These things fly down the hill, just so you’re aware.
Hold Your Pants Up
We all have that day when we wear our pants that are a little big around the waist. But that’s okay because we’ve got our belt – nope, never mind. Well, don’t panic. If you’ve got your duct tape, you’ve got access to a makeshift belt.
This guy may have been using this as a fashion statement, or so he thought. But you can actually use this hack if you’re having trouble getting your pants to stay up. Maybe not so much in the office, though.
Dustpan Duct Tape Hack
You know when you sweep the house, and the floors all end up looking amazing until you go to collect the piles of dust? At that point, it seems like all of your hard work was for nothing, as you try, repeatedly to sweep all of the particles into the pan.
Next time you run into this issue, grab your roll of duct tape and lightly tape it to the ground (not on the dust, of course.) Then, try again. Doing this should allow you to smoothly get everything into the pan.
Temporary Clothesline
If you’re on vacation or staying somewhere where you don’t have access to a dryer or a clothesline, you can always make your own! Now, keep in mind that this will look horrendously tacky, so don’t plan on leaving it up for a long period of time. But for in a pinch, this can be a great way to dry clothes, towels, and sheets!
If you’re just hanging lightweight clothes, you can get away with sticking it to the sides of the surface (your walls, or a tree if you're hiking). If, however, you’re planning on hanging sheets or something heavier, you may want to wrap it around once for good measure.
Mend Broken Glasses
If you wear glasses, chances are there’s been at least one time where you’ve broken them and been in a situation where you needed then fixed ASAP. It can be expensive to have them repaired, or to buy a new pair altogether. But thanks to Urkel, we’ve wizened up to the duct tape glasses hack.
To keep your glasses together, use a neutral-colored tape and wrap around as many times as necessary to cover the broken part. If you only have access to silver or some other light color, and your glasses are black, you can always use a black sharpie over the tape to make it blend a bit better for the time being, until you can get them fixed.
Keep Chairs from Scuffing Floors
The last thing you want to do to your nice, clean wood floors is scuff them up with chairs and table legs. Unfortunately, some furniture, especially when it’s older, can have rough edges that tend to do it each time the piece is moved. Save your floors by placing some duct tape on the bottom of the legs to prevent scuffing.
Unlike a lot of the things on this list, this one isn’t a visible hack, which makes it so much better. You know, if you like the look of duct tape for some reason, you can always just cover the entire chair. But if you’re a normal person and you want to hide the fact that you’re using duct tape on your furniture – it’s super easy to do with this one.
Cover a Cut
This is, again, something that should only be done if absolutely necessary, and never for any lengthy period of time. First aid kits should have butterfly Band-Aids, but if you don’t have access to a Band-Aid, and you have zero choice, this may work. Note: you will also need an additional layer, like a t-shirt, or toilet paper.
Of course, it will also hurt like hell when you pull it off and may just cause it to open and start bleeding again. If you do this, make sure to put something like tissue over the actual wound before applying the tape. Do not apply it directly to an open wound.
Clean Your Pores
This may or may not work, but that doesn’t mean people don’t continue trying it. If you’ve run out of pore strips, just grab your duct tape and slap a piece directly on to your nose (or forehead, or wherever you’ve got blackheads) and press down for 30 seconds. Then, tear it off quickly, like a Band-Aid.
Now, just make sure you’re not doing this over facial hair because that could make for a very unpleasant couple of minutes. It also has the potential to irritate your skin and cause inflammation and redness, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do damage control before you’ve got to head out of the house, just in case.
Plug a Hole in a Raft
If you’re having fun on a camping trip and you realize all of a sudden that your raft has a hole in it – don’t panic. If you’ve brought your duct tape like you should have remembered to do by now, you’ll be just fine!
The toughest part of this operation will be discovering the exact location of the hole. Once you’ve looked it over and found it, however, all it takes is a little bit of tape to cover the hole. This solution won’t last forever, but it will certainly get you through the rest of the trip!
Clothes-Folding Guide
Folding a t-shirt can be much harder than you’d think. Unless you’ve worked in retail – oh hell, even if you have worked in retail – it’s a tough thing to learn to do. Fortunately, there are some hacks in place that can make it easier for you.
You’ll need a cardboard box, your trusty tape, and scissors. Cut the box into six rectangles that are the size a folded shirt would be. Then, lay them next to and top of each other in a three by two pattern and use the tape to connect them. If you’re not sure how to use your DIY folding board, there are tons of videos on YouTube that can show you exactly how to do it!
Pencil Toppers
This is another cute little craft you can do with your kids before they head back to school. Or, even in the middle of the school year after spring break, they’d make a big bang when they come back to math class. Dress up some plain old number two pencils with some colored duct tape and a little time.
To create these duct tape pen toppers, you’ll need different colors of tape, pens or pencils to place them on, and scissors. Cut about 20 little squares of tape and set aside so they’re easy to grab (perhaps on the ledge of a desk or table.) Then, fold the squares into triangles and leave a little bit of the sticky part showing so you can piece them together. Wrap the triangle around the top of the pencil and start repeating until you have something that looks like this!
Face Off
If a shirt made out of duct tape is uncomfortable, how do you suppose a mask of tape over your face feels? Probably not very good, that’s for sure. If you’re in a pinch come Halloween, though, you may not have much of a choice when it comes to designing a last-minute costume.
Next time the holiday sneaks up on you and your kids are ready to go trick or treating, try this trick for a fast solution! You can get really creative with it, depending on which colors you have available. Make sure the mask is double-sided, so it doesn’t actually stick to your kid’s face. That wouldn’t be a very pleasant experience for either of you. But mainly them.
Make a Hammock
Yep. You can actually make an entire hammock out of duct tape. One that actually holds some serious weight. You’ll need quite a bit of tape for this craft, along with some rope and wood. Consider using lighter colored duct tape, since darker colors will absorb heat and be much too hot to sit on.
Of course, even the lighter colors of this type of material can get way too hot in direct sunlight, so try to keep your hammock in an area where it’s blocked from the sun’s rays. Under the trees in your backyard is the perfect spot!
Close a Leak in a Hose
If you haven’t been able to use the hose without losing some water out of the little hole that’s sprung, just use a little bit of duct tape. Wrap it around, pressing it against the whole be keeping it close enough it doesn’t constrict the hose.
Keep in mind, this won’t last forever, since it’s not really meant for watertight repairs, and it’s still possible that the hole may get bigger. But it’s good enough for a temporary fix that will let you get some use out of that hose today.
Colorful Tote Bag
Whether you’re headed to the store and you don’t want to use single-use plastic, or you’re just bored and feel like creating your own bag, give this trick a try!
You could do this in silver or black, too, but it wouldn’t look nearly as cool! Now, keep in mind that there’s a slim chance yours will actually turn out like this one. Still, if you’ve got artistic talents, you may be able to make it happen. And, if you just need a bag, who cares how it looks, right?
A Hat to Scorch Your Skull
Sure, you could spend your time creating a hat purely out of duct tape as this person did. However, you probably shouldn’t, considering it would be more about (crappy) aesthetics than functionality.
Since duct tape absorbs heat, it wouldn’t work very well to protect your face from the sun, like hats are supposed to do. It may work to keep your head dry when it’s raining, though. Just don’t put it on when there’s even a hint of sun.
Keep Your Shoes Dry
Do the kids love to play outside when it’s raining, and then track everything right back inside, all over your nice, clean floor? This trick can be a fun family craft project and save those floors from the wrath of the muddy shoes.
Use the shoes as a guide while putting these together so that they’ll be the perfect size for each person. Next time it’s raining, simply have them put these on over their shoes and then take them off at the door! Bonus: these are super quick and easy to make, so you can remake them whenever yours are beyond saving!
Bug Trap
This isn’t very nice to do, much like glue traps are being noticed as being inhumane lately, since harmless critters and get stuck and parish horribly in a slow, panicked death. If you’ve got a problem with flies, or gnats, however, and they’ve become invasive, try this trick to remedy your situation.
Just stick long strips of duct tape to the ceiling around rooms where the flies frequent. You can try putting a bit of honey or something on the tape to attract them, as well. Change the tape as they start to collect flies. After all, that’s pretty gnarly looking, and you probably don’t want that hanging around in your kitchen.
Create-a-Cup
Now, in most cases, you will probably have access to either some kind of cup or at least a water bottle. But, if you do ever end up in a position where you need a drink of water, stat, and you have nothing to drink it out of, just whip out your trusty duct tape.
Make sure you make it double-sided, because you don’t want to taste the adhesive. All it takes is a couple of layers and voila, you’ve got yourself a drinking cup.
Add a Cup Holder to Any Chair
There’s nothing worse than sitting around the campfire, drinking a beer with your buddies, and going to put it down in your cup holder when – gasp – there’s no cup holder! Okay, there are a lot, and we mean, a lot, of things that are worse than that. But that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t suck to have to hold on to your beer and make it all warm in your hand.
If you’ve been paying attention, at this point you should have a roll of this stuff on you everywhere you go. To pull off this hack, you’ll use the entire roll. Just wrap it around the sides of itself and then around the arm of the chair! And don’t forget to take it with you when you leave!
Fit Your Clothes
Do you sell clothes on Poshmark or eBay? Or perhaps you’re just interested in designing some of your own outfits in your spare time. In either case, having a form of your body to fit and show your designs will make everything so much easier.
Use something like an old sheet or pillowcases, to cover your shoulders to your thighs. Then, stick the tape all over it. Hint: having a friend or family member help you with this will make things go more smoothly. And whatever you do, make sure you're thinking about how you will get it off of you once it’s ready.
Remove Pet Hair from Furniture
If you’ve lived with cats and dogs throughout your life, you’re aware of just how much of a struggle it can be to sit down on something that isn’t covered entirely in fur. Rather than spending too much money on what’s essentially tape with a handle – why not just go back to the basics and simply use the tape?
All it takes is a roll of duct tape and a bit of effort. Just loop some of it around your hand and start pressing it into the furniture. Repeat until it looks like your butt isn’t going to wind up just as furry as your dog’s when you sit down.
Pencil Case Covers
This one would make a nice craft that you and the kids can do together before school starts at the beginning of the school year. When it’s time to do the dreaded back-to-school shopping, which means all new supplies.
Save a couple of bucks by turning last year’s pencil case into their favorite new schooltime accessory.
Designer Tissue (Boxes)
Sure, Kleenex sells some pretty nice-looking boxes with different types of art and patterns on them. But it still isn’t your art, and it’s not exactly unique. If you’d prefer to have one-of-a-kind designs, make your own box covers with tape!
Rainy day? Get the kids together and make a family craft out of it! After all, they use tissues just as much, if not more than you do. Tell everyone to grab a box and do their best! Make sure you’ve got a few different colors for them to use.
Hang It Up
You’ve got to have some serious talent to create something like this out of tape, but this person certainly does. They were able to create this wall art of Bryan Cranston’s character, Walter White, from the hit show Breaking Bad. The artist did an amazing job of bringing his face to life, too.
No matter how good you are, though, you’re bound to wind up with all of the uneven edges from piecing it together. Perhaps a very good artist could figure out how to blend them seamlessly?
The Grateful Dead
When you’re a fan, you’re a fan. Or perhaps when you take this amount of time and effort to craft a one-of-a-kind look for an event, you’re a bit more than just a fan. After all, when you make an outfit out of tape…it’s not likely you’ll be using it more than once – not easily, anyways.
Admittedly, they do look pretty great for being made out of tape. We sincerely hope they’ve got a layer of something like cotton on underneath all of that, though. If polyester binds heat, you can only imagine what duct tape does. It makes us too hot just looking at this picture!
The Duct Tux
Hey, you know what they say: go big or go home. This young couple decided to go…well, sticky, by creating the entirety of their prom wear out of duct tape. Amazingly, they did a really great job, because both outfits look nice and put-together.
If anything were to happen and the building was to catch fire, however, that would be a very unpleasant situation to be in. Not to mention, it looks extremely uncomfortable without adding intense heat. Let’s leave this one checked as “already done, leave it alone.”
Keep Your SD Cards in One Place
Technology nowadays moves in the direction of storing everything on clouds and not being dependent on physical storage devices. However, this hasn't always been the case and there is a good chunk of everyone's information stored on devices such as USB sticks, SD cards, and even, god forbid, floppy disks (ask your parents if you don't know what they are).
Now, teeny tiny little SD cards were definitely efficient for their time and saved us a lot of physical space but they were also very easy to lose. With this duct tape hack you can create a little wallet for whatever loose cards you have lying around the house and store it somewhere safe and accessible.
Clean Under Your Fridge
One of the places that we neglect to clean as part of our ongoing routine is the space under the fridge or the stove. It's not like there is a health inspector who might shut down your kitchen if there are too many dust bunnies stuck underneath there but you know they're there and it's driving you crazy.
While moving the fridge and the stove might help you with your woes, it also requires heavy lifting that most of us would rather avoid. This is where this hack comes into play. Wrap a velvet hanger with a washcloth and then secure the washcloth in place with a piece of duct tape. Voila! You've got the perfect gadget to make the dust bunnies under your fridge a thing of the past.
Cheap Protection for Your Phone
We all have that one clumsy friend. Hey, sometimes we are that clumsy friend. You know the one we were talking about — the one whose phone is always chipped, cracked, or otherwise broken. They have not yet met the phone case powerful enough to protect their phone from themselves and at some point it just seems wasteful to keep buying new ones.
Thanks to duct tape, there is no need to. As this image shows, some carefully placed pieces of this magical sticky paper might just do the trick and save you the few dollars you were going to spend on a new phone shield.
Patch Up a Fence
Okay, this picture needs some context. Yes, we can see that is a wire fence with what appears to be a piece of drywall duct taped to it, but why is it there? Well, the woman who posted this picture on Instagram was sharing how she solved the problem of her puppies sneaking out of their kennel: Duct tape, obviously.
The weak spot in the fence was the part between the door of the kennel and the side of it so she went ahead and DIYed a solution. A nice, piece of drywall and some duct tape patched up the hole in the fence and required the use of exactly zero power tools.
A Doggy Carrier
Pet stores will have you believe that you are never done buying equipment for your furry friend. You get the basic stuff like a leash, a bowl, and perhaps a toy or two, and yet somehow you end up with animal equipment worth more than you've ever planned to spend.
Well, this hack is here to save you on at least one doggy item (provided your dog is under a certain size, of course.) If you are good with your hands or even the least bit crafty, you can make your pooch a custom-made carrier using nothing but a nice roll of duct tape.
Cover up Furniture imperfections
Let's be honest. Most of us can't afford to refurnish our house every couple of years. No matter how new your homeware is, eventually, some pieces of furniture are bound to gather some marks. It's only natural. It shows that they've been used and loved. That being said, those love marks might not always be aesthetically pleasing.
In some cases, your furniture may already be secondhand and marked with evidence of its previous owner. Whatever the reason, if the imperfections are subtle enough, a nice piece of printed duct tape could cover them up and give your furniture a new life.
Fix a Chair
working on this article is slowly making us believe that there is nothing that duct tape can't fix. We wouldn't be surprised if we stumbled upon a random picture on social media showing a person standing next to their livable duct-taped house that is full of their mostly functional duct-taped furniture.
Furniture like the desk chair in the picture. In a variation of the sugar packet under a wobbly table leg hack, this person saw fit to fix their wobbly, wheel-deprived desk chair by taping a water bottle instead of the missing piece. What a fantastic way to reuse plastic.
Duct Tape Wallet
Get yourself a few rolls of duct tape and you might save some cash in two ways: One is the cash that you will save by making items out of duct tape instead of buying them and two is by making an actual wallet that will save your cash for you.
The Redditor who posted this picture knows what we're talking about. Judging by the craft pad they have on their desk and this professional-looking knife, this is not their first adventure with duct tape nor is it going to be their last. We are just happy to be passing this knowledge along.
First Aid Kit for Shoes
Not all shoes were created equal. Some were made by top-notch Italian craftspeople and some were made by people who would rather be doing literally anything else. The shoes in this picture obviously belong to the latter variety.
The poor man who wore them seems to have worn them out unexpectedly and had to think fast. We stay unexpectedly because the shoes appear to be new apart from the fact that the bottom of the left one is crumbling down. It seems to be held together with the help of a few strategically placed pieces of duct tape and perhaps a prayer or two.
Work on Your Archery Skills
Archery may not be a very common hobby like, let's say, cooking, reading, or origami folding. But that does not mean that it cannot be helped by a trustee roll of duct tape. As we can see in the picture below, using some sturdy duct tape, any amateur archer can become a little more professional.
You know those little feathers at the very base of the arrow? The ones that help keep it balanced as it flies through the air on its way to the target? Well, they don't really have to be feathers. Just ask the archer behind this image.
DIY Thimble
Pricking yourself with a needle is an occupational hazard for anyone who dabbles in sewing. Apparently, knitting and crocheting can be just as hazardous. The needles aren't as sharp as the ones you use for sewing but that doesn't mean they will not absolutely stab your finger if you mess with them for too long.
You could use a regular thimble, but that might limit your movement. Alternatively, try wrapping some duct tape around your finger as you work on your newest scarf or sweater. This should create a barrier between your skin and the needles that would be thin enough for you to move freely yet thick enough to keep those pointy tips at bay.
Revamp Your Pencil Cup
Duct tape, as we know, doesn't have to be a boring color. Any craft store, and oftentimes even hardware stores, has a shelf fully stocked with duct tape rolls with funky prints and even glitter. Just think of the possibilities! One such possibility is giving your pencil cup a makeover.
Using glittery duct tape and a recycled tin can the whole project can be done in under a minute and under a dollar. Plus, it saves you the hassle of using actual glitter and glue which is guaranteed to go anywhere no matter how careful you are or how hard you clean.
Baseball Glove
This one should go into the duct tape Olympics if there ever was one. Most of the hacks on this list require little to no effort. At best, they might require a little bit of craft skills. This, however, is something else.
We don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that in order to make one of these taped-up baseball gloves one will need to use actual engineering skills. The post also features a video of the glove in motion and it seems like it is perfectly functional. We wonder if it delivers on the baseball court as well.
Who Needs Michael Kors?
Oh wow, this is on a whole other level. We found this purse on Instagram and at first it seemed like a cute little bag you could get at the mall. And then we saw the caption. Not only was this cute purse handmade, but the artist who created it used pretty much nothing but duct tape and scrapbook paper.
It is so chic and fully functional, featuring inside compartments for anything and everything that you might need on a quick trip to the grocery store or on a night out with some friends. It is the highest degree of personalizing an item for yourself.
Give Cosplay a Go
The world of cosplay is a lot more vast than most people realize. It goes far beyond the casual Halloween costume and those who are deeply involved in it can create some really astonishing pieces from scratch.
Since many of the characters that cosplayers dress up as aren't exactly available at a store for a simple purchase, there are lots of crafting techniques that they use. Many of those techniques include extensive use of duct tape to unbelievable proportions. Talented cosplayers like the one who created the sword and shield in this picture will look at a roll of duct tape and see a full costume.
Remodel Old Furniture
These couple of chairs started out in really bad shape. When they were found, the upholstery was torn and the iron frame was rusty beyond belief. But, just like a little kid, all they needed was one person to believe in them. That one person did one hell of a job.
The iron frame was thoroughly cleaned and painted, and the upholstered parts were patched up with duct tape and then rewrapped with a second, glossy, printed duct tape. The finished product looks as good as new and is now living its second life as a beautiful dressing room chair.