The most common use of a coat hanger outside of hanging clothes involves straightening the hanger and using the wire for various purposes. Some uses for the thick wire includes tripping the lock mechanism in a car door, clearing out a plugged-up sink drain, routing electrical wire through a pipe or channel, or prodding something in a small hole without risking a finger. Whatever the case, the long length of fairly rigid hanger wire makes it handy to use in tight areas where a hand or arm cannot reach.
Metal wire is a highly conductive material. In this respect, a coat hanger can be used as an impromptu radio antenna to pick up a better radio signal. A wire hanger also makes a good base for a bendable, hanging mobile frame; it can be bent into a variety of shapes from which ornaments can then be hung. Finally, crafting a giant bubble wand from a hanger tends to be a common application as well. When one end is used as the handle and the other bent in a circle, the hanger can be dipped and waved to produce giant bubbles.
Metal hangers are plentiful and cheap, making them useful as throwaway tools as well. Consider using one as a bendable prop to suspend items being spray-painted, resulting in touch-free paint work. Worried about your paint can falling off your ladder? Loop a hanger through both the top of your ladder and the can's handle to secure it, allowing you to paint without worrying about the can falling off.
Due to the flexible and bendable nature of coat hanger wire, it can easily be used to build wire frames for artwork that involves sculpting. The wire can be shaped to build various configurations and internal frames for artwork. Various art mediums, such as clay, can then be applied to the wire skeleton to create the final art shape. A papier maché application would be another similar approach. Much the way rebar works in cement, the metal wire gives the sculpture material the strength to stay together.