String It Up

Have you ever wondered about string? We don't know when the first cord, twine, string was created. Probably by plaiting strands of plant fiber, but it's an ancient way of securing something. The first patent for a glue was in 1750. An adhesive for surgical tape was developed in 1845 by Horace Day. Bandaids were developed in 1921. In 1925 masking tape was designed and in 1930 came the clear tape, both developed by Richard Drew. Duct tape came out in 1942. So how did people secure things before tape, staples, glue, etc? String or twine! And it was completely recycleable. People would re-use string by adding it to a ball of string that everyone kept in their home. Balls of string and bales of twine were common in households. When you recieved something tied with string, you removed the string and added it to your ball of string. People would often have some type of string dispensers like these:









You can also buy or make your own string holders.






A string bobbin














People used string and twine a lot more in the older days when they didn't have tape.


But there are still many uses for string. You can buy food safe, cotton string for kitchen use:












You can use string and twine in the garden or yard to tie up plants, trellis plants, draw a straight line, etc








And then there is:












Here are some other uses of string or twine:

Hanging wreaths on your door
If you go camping, take string along to use for a temporary clothesline
Use string tied between two screws or nails and then use clothespins to pin up notes, shopping lists, tickets, etc.


Create a child's mobile
Hang a plant
Macrame
Cut a cake
After you've folded a napkin, use a piece of string to tie it up with a bow and, voila!, you have your own napkin ring

To tie up magazines into bundles
Use with paper tags to attach to anything. I've seen paper tags use as price tags at antique malls. Here is a site with 102 uses for baling twine: http://www.silhouettefarm.com/102usesforbaling.html

It can be dyed and used to make jewelry:








Do Google search on "string art", "string craft", "string jewelry", etc. and get ideas on how to use STRING!!