magid | Query

Query

Other than recycling, what can I do with empty film cannisters?
(I don't want to use them for food of any sort, because I don't believe the plastic is food-grade.) If you have a project that could use a number of them, I'm very happy to contribute them!

On a related note, what can I do with old prescription containers (the prescription information has been very nicely peeled off already)? Ditto.

[totally off-topic addendum: the alarm (or whatever it was) finally stopped ringing late yesterday afternoon. Next step: find out what it was. No apology from the neighbors yet...]

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I don't want to use them for food of any sort

Ah well - the only use I ever found for them was as salt & pepper shakers for camping trips. They made (perhaps still make) little plastic tops that had a flap covering a few salt-shaker holes. It was the cutest thing.

It does sound cute.

I've gotten more squicked over the years, having read a few too many articles about how different plastics can give off fumes of one sort or another that are not ideal for ingesting. Salt might be relatively inert, but ground pepper is surely not (plus I've become more of a black-pepper snob, preferring freshly ground to the stuff in the shakers).

You can make pretty good shakers (for rhythm accompaniment of music) from film canisters and rice. :)

...or groggers for Purim!

Hm... have a number of them with different grains (rice, barley, split peas, etc) for different sounds, glued together or held together somehow, perhaps decorating them...
(Though I'd have to remember to put it away for Pesach :-).

Cool.

Hrmmm...

You could make some sort of weird - concentration-like game using them, where you put different colored marbles in them and try to find the matching colors.

You could use them as mini-time capsules, stashing stuff in them that you want to recover in the future, then burying them in the yard.

You could also sell crack in them; much safer then the glass bottles they typically use.

Concentration could work, for things other than marbles, too ("Which container had the other plastic frog in it?"), if I can muster enough that are the same. Right now, I have some that are white, some that have flat tops, and some that are ridged.

Mini time capsules: I wouldn't want to leave something in the condo yard... and far too much of my current stuff is non-mini time capsules :-)

Crack is sold in glass bottles? If it's not safe, why use glass? (Why wouldn't it be safe?)

Time capsules don't have to be buried. Just stick them on a shelf or something.

Here's Andy Looney talking about time capsules (http://www.wunderland.com/WhatsOld/2003/WN.01.16.03.html).

Cool link. Thanks.

Er, on what shelf? I have empty shelf space...? ;-)

I suppose it would make sense to put things all together in one place as a snapshot of time X, but in some ways I think of a journal doing the same thing, though without the interesting toys/photos (er, in my journal, anyway)/other 3-D items.

I've used them in the past as pill containers -- I like to keep a supply of aspirin/ibuprofen on hand in my purse just in case, and film canisters are a nice size for it. Ditto for the smaller size of old prescription bottles.

I think I'm more likely to use old prescription containers for that, though right now I tend to just have headache/pain relievers at home and in the office, and assume someone will be able to help me if I'm anywhere else.
Perhaps that should change...

Some crafty folks use them for storing small ingredients like beads. I don't know if you know anyone with the right hobbies, but it's a thought.

I like the grogger idea.

I don't know if I know anyone who beads, either. I think the white translucent ones would be most useful for that, too.

If I make the grogger, I'll definitely report back (I usually use the one I made at the JCC when I was about 8).

small ingredients = beads; I just like that, probably 'cause I tend to reserve "ingredients" for food.

small ingredients = beads; I just like that, probably 'cause I tend to reserve "ingredients" for food.

Y'know, I wrote that, paused, searched my brain quickly for an alternative, got nothing, and decided that "ingredient" doesn't have to be food-specific. :-)

I find that pill containers are made of washable plastic. If washed and possibly lined with a plastic bag a used pill container could be good for storing herbs as well as anything from the list for film canisters.

Film canisters are another story. That said, I've seen them used for things like Catan letter-counters, a couple of dice, quarters, game money for lots of games... stuff like that. You could also use them for glitterdust. Basically, non-food items are OK. I'd think edibles to be a no-no for those because I can still smell photograph chemical solution when I open them. Soft plastic.

Strangely enough, I don't have a lot of little game pieces to keep together, and I manage to store far too much change to fit in a film cylinder (need to change that :-). I think I tend to be more of a medium- to large-sized container to store 'category x' items (change, crochet yarn, buttons, beads, shells, marbles), though I love pretty tiny boxes. These somehow aren't as useful to me.
Need any containers for game pieces?

Hmm. Actually, it would be good to have separate containers for money for Illuminati denominations, and it could be good to have containers for XP for Dork Tower when I finally buy the game.

So, are film containers or pill containers more useful for these?
I have more of the former than the latter, but you're welcome to any.

Either are fine. Film I'd just have to label is all.

Cool. I'll bring them to the Diesel some week, though probably not this one.

I should point out that I can start accumulating film canisters instead of chucking them, if you'll actually use them. :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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