These totally traditional, and until 20 years ago, common provincial items are small hand made bamboo clothes pins. I saw them at the handicraft section of the Legazpi market and when the vendor told me they were PHP15 (U.S. 37 cents) for this whole bundle, I figured I would buy them and find a use for them later on. Who knows, they might make nice place card holders for a native themed meal or come in handy for a treasure hunt or make clever pins to close banana-leaf wraped fish steamed with spices… I had no intention of using them to secure clothes to the clothes line as they struck me as being more likely to harm the clothes than anything else… But the amount of work that went into this bundle must warrant at least PHP15, no?
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I remember this bamboo clothes pins… Wow, truly native and shall I say ancient? I thought this one doesn’t exist anymore. :)
Wow! these clothes pins bring back memories! What a pleasant surprise to see them even in a photo!
they are definitely charming and rustic…if i were in the classroom(i’m a preschool teacher), i would hang fishing line or some raffia and use the pins to hang up artwork/photographs or just about anything interesting…if one had young kids, one can do the same at home…
wow! I can still remember during my elementary days when i was still in bacolod then, our labandera would normally use this to hang our clothes on the clothesline.
Now this has gone extinct with the invention of the plastic clip.
Those clothespins are really ancient but in good condition! Its made from mature bamboo because I don’t see any “buk-bok”.
For sure you will find a use for it in the future and look forward to the next post about them.
this is common to me. am surprise it is rare to you and your readers in manila.i find it clothes friendly and looks systematic having the same color and shape. mm how do you find the hidden chi chi resto of adora? pls do a commentary.
I’ve seen small ones used for scrabooking and crafts, but those are imported, colored ones and can be bought in department stores. I’ve also seen a memo holder, imagine: a pot with a spring growing on it, instead of leaves, attached on the end is a clothespin where you can put notes/reminders. But not at P15 pesos. This find of yours is really cheap, wawa naman ang mga gumawa. If I made these myself, I’d sell them at P50 per piece!
wow mm, organic clothes pins.
environment friendly and it should go together with bio degradable clotheslines too.
plastic ropes and these bamboo clothespins just doesn’t fit.
mom used to keep the split ones to start fire for the wood burning stove we had and also for making siga to smoke the mango trees at the back of the house.
I believe naabutan ko pa itong mga bamboo clothespins but we hardly used it as it’s quite a pain to use it, but they are indeed cool and if you’re a bit crafty, you can just stick a magnet on it and use it to hold notes on your fridge and yeah, a nice place card holder for a pinoy themed meal… These clothespins bring back childhood memories indeed.
there’s a wooden version of this bamboo clothespin decades ago.. two pieces of wood with metal spring(?)
i remember this, too.
Wow! Naabutan ko pa to when I was little, only to be replaced by those A-shaped, multi-color plastic clothespins. Edel, I remember the one you’re talking about as well, like the ones used in pants hangers, di ba? Oh the memories. Marketman, I’m glad pareho tayo ng generation (I’m just a few years younger than you) since wala pa akong 40. Hehe.
It’s one of our creativity and ingenuity skills. We utilize whatever raw materials available to us and very sturdy too no metal wire to snap. Environmentally friendly! If they are crafted well they are good even on fine and delicate apparel including silk. The best way to condition them is on blue jeans as the roughness of the jeans will smooth the rough edges of the bamboo.
there was a radio announcer in the 60’s who had a signature song that he would sing a cappella:
“Bumili ng sipit, Bumili ng sipit
Pampatangos ng ilong.
Bumili ng sipit, Bumili ng sipit,
Pampatangos ng ilong!”
so there’s another idea for your bamboo “sipits”. hehe
makes a good name holder for a native style dinner….
hahaha…ang dami kong nasira nito nung bata ako, hehe
Wow, I thought I’d never see them again. When I first set foot in my mom’s native Abra, my relatives there used those sipits to secure their clothes to make-shift clotheslines by the river. They propped up long pieces of bamboo using river rocks, string some wire and let their underwear and shirts flap in the cool wind. That is an experience one must have at least once in their lives: washing clothes by hand in a cool river and hanging them with traditional sipits on make-shift clotheslines! Complete with tapis and palo-palo. Kidding! *lol*