Make a Tangle-Free String Dispenser From Half a Bottle

The Problem

A ball of twine is a pet that runs away: it rolls off the bench, unwinds across the floor, and gnarls itself in the drawer. Every use starts with finding the end and untangling what happened since last time.

The Technique

1. Cut a plastic bottle in half — the kind with a screw cap.
2. Set the ball of twine in the bottom half.
3. Thread the string's end out through a hole in the cap, and screw the top half back on over the ball.
4. Mount it on the workshop wall, cap out. Pull what you need and snip; the end never disappears back inside, and the ball spins in its housing instead of rolling around the shop.