Have a duct tape wallet already? Or just lack a decent bag and the cash to buy one? Make yourself a nifty bag out of duct tape!

Requirements

• A roll of duct tape (about half, really)
• As large a book as you can get your hands on (This Researcher recommends Paul Tipler's Physics for Scientists and Engineers but that's just a suggestion)
• An hour of your time and some patience

Instructions

Tear a strip about an inch longer than it takes to wrap completely around the long end of your book. Wrap it carefully and tautly around the book, sticky side out. Now tear another strip and do the same, overlapping the first by about half an inch.

Once you've covered your book or reached your desired height, it's time to make the outside. Starting at the bottom, even more carefully lay a strip of tape around your first wrapped one, shiny side out. Again overlapping about half an inch, keep going with these strips until you reach the top.

Now, slide your duct tape cylinder off of your book. This step is easiest done with two strips half the length of the previous ones. Lay one on the outside of your cylinder, sticky side in, with approximately half its width sticking up. Fold this part over onto the inside and smooth down. Repeat on the other side with your other strip, making a nice clean top edge.

The bottom is a little bit trickier. First, squash your cylinder around until it has the desired shape for the bag you want to make (ie, do you want a long skinny purse or one quite wide on the bottom?)
Tear strips of tape that are perhaps an inch and a half longer than your bag is to be wide. Now you sort of have to carefully get them positioned inside, sticky side out, without hitting the walls of your bag. Smooth the strips on all along the length of the bag forming a nice bottom. From the outside, cover these strips with similar one right side out, perhaps first adding a strip or two going lengthwise for added support.

Figure out how long you want the handle to be and tear a piece of tape about 3 inches longer than that. Being very precise, fold it in half onto itself, first slicing in the middle for an inch and a half at each end. Don't fold that part. Cut a few little pieces and use them to smooth over the places where you got your handle wrinkled and twisted up.

Take the ends, which you left not folded onto themselves, and position them at the sides of your bag, where the handle seems most natural, and smooth on so that one half of the strip is on theinside and the other is on the outside. (Thus the little bit that you cut and didn't fold.) Now cover your joins with a piece of tape for reinforcement.

There are many more options for your bag if you feel like upgrading a bit. You can make it out of a different color tape, or even may different colors if you really want to make a splash. You can add on a pocket on the inside for your keys, or put a flap on to cover the opening, or make some sort of toggle closure thingy.