Category Archives: Improvisation

Pulot Boy’s Improvisation

Leave a comment Posted by on July 28, 2014
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Old tennis racket repurposed into pulot boy’s ball snatcher by fusing some netting around the racket’s rim

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Pulot boy (ball boy) in action

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Convenient ball catcher, picker and collector

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More on ball boy in action

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Ball boys are maintaining the shell tennis court by marking lines using chalk and leveling the crushed shells using net mop

Apparatus, Improvisation, Metro Manila, Repurposing , , , ,

Toy: Cassava Leaves

Leave a comment Posted by on June 25, 2014
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Ifugao children walking home from school in Batad

These children and those before them that have passed me by on the paddy dike are holding cassava leaves by their stalks. They would discard the leaf blades and use the leaf stalks to make kwintas (necklace). I remember doing this when I was at their age.  

To these children, the mountain slopes, the rice paddies and the space underneath their houses are their playground.  Anything found within can be their toys like cassava leaves. They may not have those toys citified children have nowadays, but it’s not an unfavorable circumstance, for when it comes to objects that are used for play, it’s the imagination that counts. If a child can create something out of anything, then this sort of learned skill is even more favorable, and that makes manufactured and assembled toys not a big deal after all.

Ifugao, Improvisation , , , , ,

Signal Spot

Leave a comment Posted by on June 14, 2014

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Batad, unlike Banaue is cut-off from the rest of the world. One gets around on foot only and cellphone signal is non-existent. But, there are particularly few spots a Nokia phone can intermittently acquire some signal coming from somewhere, like from the other side of the mountain.

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A semi-permanent place for the Nokia of the inn’s caretaker. She checks messages on this spot without removing the phone

I can’t seem to grab a signal even from the same spot, hence I believe only Nokia has the power to do that somehow.

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The inn’s caretaker phone’s still there at night time

Ifugao, Improvisation , , ,

Jeepney Fare Sorter Tray

Leave a comment Posted by on May 14, 2014

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A customized wooden tray for sorting coins with a recess for sorting rolled paper bills. Makes it easy for the jeepney driver to deposit fare and give change while handling the wheel at the same time.

Iloilo, Improvisation, Public Transportation, Receptacle , , , , ,

Improvised Handwarmers

Leave a comment Posted by on April 12, 2014
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As seen in Tokyo

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Nobody will touch one's bicycle in this city, hence there's no need to secure it

Improvisation, Japan, Transport , ,

Water Village: Sail Thru

2 Comments Posted by on February 24, 2014

How to take out food or drinks, in a restaurant on stilts, in the water village without stepping inside.

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Restaurant in the water village

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The same restaurant with fake flowers as ornament

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Drive thru concept

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Basket tied to the railing by rope is used to lower food and drinks

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Mostly water taxi drivers are the customers

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Here's your keropok and drink mister

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Another customer placing his satu ringgit (1 Brunei Dollar) in exhange for the drink

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Under the Borneo sun, a water taxi driver must hydrate

Brunei Darussalam, Improvisation , , , ,

Retailing Practicalities

Leave a comment Posted by on January 30, 2014

Receipt housing and barcode tag pigeonholes repurposed from taped carton as seen in Landmark Department Store.

To protect the fragile receipt pad.
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Pigeonhole system to organize barcode tags by price.
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Improvisation, Makati, Receptacle, Repurposing , , , , , ,

Cat Casita

Leave a comment Posted by on January 24, 2014

I always pass by the guard post at the loading dock for trucks of Landmark Department Store/Supermarket building and have noticed a couple of stray cats hanging out in there having some kind of friendship with the security guard.

Recently the cats have already a boardinghouse built from carton complete with roof, loft with bedding and windows and presumably constructed by the security guard who became too attached with these felines.
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“TOM & JERY HOUSE!!” says exactly the writing at the roof truss.
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Creature, Improvisation, Makati, Structure , , , , ,

Scotch Tape Insect Trap

Leave a comment Posted by on December 13, 2013

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Around 4:45 in the morning of the 18th Angkor Wat International Half Marathon (Dec 1, 2013), the light bulb in bag deposit tent attracted swarms of winged termites, and so the bag deposit staff hang several clear adhesive tapes in the ceiling of the tent as improvised insect trap.

Cambodia, Improvisation , , , , ,

Check and Stamp

Leave a comment Posted by on November 21, 2013

During store checkout, each receipt needs to be stamped with a number code after checking each item with a pen and so the Landmark Department Store ladies taped the rubber stamp around the pen to handily do the ‘check and stamp’ job over and over again.

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Improvisation, Makati , , , ,

Fly Away

Leave a comment Posted by on November 20, 2013
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Each table in this carinderia has clear plastic bottle with water and foil inside for keeping houseflies away. Lady owner is counting on the "silaw" factor for the flies in deterring them

Improvisation, Negros Occidental, Superstition , , , , ,

Drag Reduction Improvisation

Leave a comment Posted by on November 2, 2013
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Coca-Cola plastic bottle attached to the outrigger to lessen drag

Improvisation, Quezon , , , , ,

Improvised Light Cover

Leave a comment Posted by on October 28, 2013
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Water bottle as lamp post light cover replacement

Batangas, Improvisation , ,

Dama in the Plaza

Leave a comment Posted by on October 25, 2013

Improvisation is always notable in this Philippine version of draughts that even the ground can be used as board. In Bacolod plaza players used wooden sheet drawn with skeleton of a checkerboard as well as using Coca-Cola caps as dama pieces.

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This sight is prevalent countrywide

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To keep the mind sharp as we age

Improvisation, Negros Occidental , , , ,

Improvised Gut Receptacle

Leave a comment Posted by on September 28, 2013

Plastic wrapped around an iron bar and secured by a rock behind the wooden chopping board as devised by the tilapia monger for catching wastes while cleaning the fish.

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Removal of entrails and scales are free services when you buy fish

Improvisation, Metro Manila , ,

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