Don't junk it - use it

Do you recognise these diagrams? A few months ago, they appeared on this page as part of an explanation of how to make a soap dish out of pieces of old dowelling, string and figure-of-eight knots. Today, however, they form part of a more significant lesson in the art of recycling: how to recycle old ideas.

This time, instead of dowelling try using broomsticks, and you'll need a rather heavier string. Otherwise the plot is much the same: drill holes in each end of the broomsticks, then thread the string through, securing it with figure-of-eight knots as shown. Leave a healthy two- or three- knot gap between one piece of wood and the next.

When finished, attached the completed object with more string to hooks on your bathroom wall so that it hangs in a horizontal plane. And there you have it - a high altitude towel rack or clothes drier.

Or you could use slightly smaller pieces of wood and end up with a convenient pot holder for your kitchen - in this case you hang it vertically and attach a few butcher's hooks to the wooden slats on which pots may be hung. My own pot-holder has butcher's hooks fashioned elegantly from wire coathangers.

"Don't Junk It - Use It" will now be taking a summer break while I browse bins and scour skips for more material. If my scavenging is successful, the series will return later in the year.