What to do with 120 "fishbones"

arigram · Oct 24, 2004

When I first started shooting 120, I have to say it took me a while to get the hang on the very different feel of the package compared to 135.

One thing I like, is the discarded "fishbone", the 120 plastic roll spool.
Ofcourse one will keep a couple as spares so to be able to load the backs with fresh film, but being a new guy into this whole medium format business, it felt... well, strange to throw away a perfectly nice 120 spool.
I mean they are so cute!

Ahem. Anyway.
So, what to do with them?
I have now a whole bag of them and keep filling it up as I shoot. One day it will overflow and I will need to find a bigger one and then a bigger one, until I need a storage space for them! I will choke on plastic 120 spools!

The only uses I have think of are:
- Pet toy. My cat loves the spool tied to a cord.
- Necklace. String 'em together for a post-modern neo-hippy statement that "film ain't dead you digital pussies!"
- Roll them on the floor and enjoy as people trip on them. Good for escaping the cops after a bank heist.
- Fodder for hand catapult. I haven't tried it so the aerodynamics of the plastic spool could be bad. Could be useful as a weapon during a riot or a football game.
- Material for a sculptural art piece

What else?

Aggie · Oct 24, 2004

new age building blocks? New surface decoration to the exterior of a house? stung on long strings and hung as a new form of beaded doorway?
used on strings as cat toys?
recycled to cut film costs, and save petroleum products?
Made into a type of seethrough shirt for men?

Ed Sukach · Oct 24, 2004

Aggie said:
new age building blocks? ...
Made into a type of seethrough shirt for men?

For MEN??? What about the obvious ... for WOMEN!!!!

- Now you have my attention!!!

Aggie · Oct 24, 2004

But Ed the womans version is a new spike high heel!

Ed Sukach · Oct 24, 2004

Aggie said:
But Ed the womans version is a new spike high heel!

ONLY spike heels - and NOTHING else???

Woo Haah!!! I'll go for that!! Even better!!

L Gebhardt · Oct 24, 2004

I use them to fill in my local landfill.

mark · Oct 24, 2004

arigram said:
When I first started shooting 120, I have to say it took me a while to get the hang on the very different feel of the package compared to 135.

One thing I like, is the discarded "fishbone", the 120 plastic roll spool.
Ofcourse one will keep a couple as spares so to be able to load the backs with fresh film, but being a new guy into this whole medium format business, it felt... well, strange to throw away a perfectly nice 120 spool.
I mean they are so cute!

Ahem. Anyway.
So, what to do with them?
I have now a whole bag of them and keep filling it up as I shoot. One day it will overflow and I will need to find a bigger one and then a bigger one, until I need a storage space for them! I will choke on plastic 120 spools!

The only uses I have think of are:
- Pet toy. My cat loves the spool tied to a cord.
- Necklace. String 'em together for a post-modern neo-hippy statement that "film ain't dead you digital pussies!"
- Roll them on the floor and enjoy as people trip on them. Good for escaping the cops after a bank heist.
- Fodder for hand catapult. I haven't tried it so the aerodynamics of the plastic spool could be bad. Could be useful as a weapon during a riot or a football game.
- Material for a sculptural art piece

What else?

This is a very honest answer

Send them to me. As a teacher who does a lot of building and constructing I have found some great classrom uses. I have used them in Math, Science, Social Studies and Reading.

Please send them to me. Please Please Please Please.

rjr · Oct 24, 2004

Ari,

sell it at ebay. "Starterkits" for beginners, "Propacks" consisting of 10 hand-assorted spools and a roll of scotch tape, "Survival pack" - a water and impact resistant container for war-zones and rainy days (a roll made for holding those vitamine pills).

removed account4 · Oct 24, 2004

here in the states lots of the labs recycle them.
maybe there is a lab in your neck of the woods that does the same?

arigram · Oct 24, 2004

jnanian said:
here in the states lots of the labs recycle them.
maybe there is a lab in your neck of the woods that does the same?

Here the only thing they recycle is bullshit.
And I am not talking about the excrements.

Leon · Oct 24, 2004

I find that , by attaching them to the bottom of a training shoe or plimsole, one has a novel and cheap rollerskate.

Or sometimes, I tie two together with an elastic band and pretend it is a binocular for my dog.

stephen · Oct 24, 2004

1. Tie along a line as a bird scarer in the garden.
2. As a furry die substitute in a car window.
3. Place in an indoor plant pot as a gift for the horticulturally challenged.

MikeK · Oct 24, 2004

arigram said:
Here the only thing they recycle is bullshit.
And I am not talking about the excrements.

Maybe you need an OxO meter. Correctly calibrated they can effectively measure every level of BS

- Mike

Aggie · Oct 24, 2004

arigram said:
Here the only thing they recycle is bullshit.
And I am not talking about the excrements.

The bodily meter is better. ankle, knee, waist, neck, buried says it all.

The best is the fertilizer grading. As in enough verbal fetilizer to fertilizer a plant, a garden, the community, the state, and finally the world! When you run out of plants we have to keep a eye on the solar system to expend the excess. Was this not why the space program started?

Shmoo · Oct 24, 2004

Properly mounted on a metal arm, I hear they make a great manual roller system for Jobo...

John Koehrer · Oct 25, 2004

Just save them, along with the back issues of National Geographic. Sooner or later the room will be full.

bmac · Oct 25, 2004

why not hot glue them to the walls in your living room. Kind of like Trading Spaces / Changing Rooms if ya know that show...

titrisol · Oct 25, 2004

I'm doing that with empty 35mm cartridges and 120 fishbones..
already 1/2 wall full

bmac said:
why not hot glue them to the walls in your living room. Kind of like Trading Spaces / Changing Rooms if ya know that show...

arigram · Oct 26, 2004

Ok, how about some new ideas?

- Massage rollers. They sell wooden ones that are simular in Body Shop.
- Sexual Aides. Use your imagination.
- Furniture moving wheels. Very light furniture that is.
- Flying kite string holders.
- Handmade doll cart wheels.
- Juggling toys.
- Painting, mark making tools
- Hairdresser's hair tangling rollers.

Come on people, I need more contributions to this genuinly useless research!

k_jupiter · Nov 1, 2004

As in the past, when 127 and 620 reels were plentiful, perhaps the future will provide an economical largess for your saved 120 reels. Or perhaps not.

tim in san jose (my kingdom for used 127 reels and papers)

oriecat · Nov 6, 2004

I still have all my 120 reels too, and the backing paper! I have them all standing up on the top shelf of my dry side workbench. I don't know why. I just like them.

rbarker · Nov 6, 2004

I've been saving mine, just for kicks, over the last 10-15 years. The collection makes an interesting testament to the amount of roll film one has used. As such, they could make an interesting conversation piece, displayed in the appropriately sized glass container.

I've also wanted to use a few of them as "perm" rollers for a shoot with a model. Perhaps with a bottle of Rodinal as the perm solution. Only "the initiated" would recognize them for what they are.

pkerr · Nov 25, 2004

Somehwere in this world, someone has just found an old medium format camera and after opening the back they realize that there is no empty spool. So, they put the camera back in a box for another 50 years.

mdohoney · Nov 26, 2004

Actually, someone just modified an old Brownie Box with a pinhole, and not having patience enough to seek out a spindle (I'm not developing my own yet) shot (I hope) a roll of 120 onto the antique wooden one. Now someone is wondering if I'm going to have to roll it back onto the old (new) spindle in the dead of night under a darkcloth (leaving it wrong end out) or tell the processor I'd like my old (old) spindle back please and may I have a spare? The learning curve is pretty steep around here, but I'm really having fun!

mfobrien · Nov 26, 2004

I have accumulated a few of the wood-cored spools, plus the later metal ones, and of course, I have a continuous supply of plastic ones. I agree with the idea of using them as hair curlers with a model, and maybe using film clips to hold the hair in place!

What to do with 120 "fishbones"

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