Sunday, September 9, 2007

Old Vinyl....Repurposed

Last spring, during a pottery class, one of the ladies was talking about some of the activities she was planning to do with the kids in her summer program. I was so intrigued by one of the cool things they did with the kids...they melted old record albums and made them into bowls. They did theirs in the hot summer sun but I decided to brave it and try it in the oven. I started with four albums I snagged on Freecycle. Oh, and don't feel bad - they had some scratches and probably wouldn't have been very good to listen to anymore. BTW...when we went to get them Jude was totally fascinated. He wanted to know what records were! Ha.

Okay - here is what I did...
Looked at the pretty albums & preheat your oven at 200 degrees.
Find a heatproof bowl to set the album on. As you can see I used a metal mixing bowl. Put it in the oven. Set your timer for 3 minutes. Wait. Suggestions for killing time: eat a peach, paint your toenails, sweep the kitchen floor, flip through a magazine....
OK - time is up. Use oven mitts (so don't paint your fingernails while waiting)!! Remove the bowl. With oven mitts on your hands form the old record into the shape you like. It cools pretty quick. After a minute or two I used my bare hands (it was easier).


I did 4 albums. They make a nice set, don't ya think? I have no idea what I am going to do with them. Another website suggested lining them with parchment paper and using them as a chip or popcorn bowl. Who knows....

This one was my favorite.
Here is why I think this is a great craft...
  • It is unique.
  • Very quick.
  • EASY.
  • No clean up!

11 comments:

Phyl said...

Records? Now that's a blast from the past...lol.

Sweet bowls:).

Phyl

Unknown said...

I'm not sure how I feel about that. As a DJ who still plays records and seeks out older rare vinyl for my collection, I have mixed feelings. On one side, the more people destroy their vinyl, the more my collection gains value as my records then become more and more rare, but on the other side, you might be destroying one of those rare gems that I don't have, and that rare gem might get lost forever! This weekend I actually had the chance to dig through 50+ crates of records that were found in the basement of a warehouse. They had been collecting dust for over a decade and belonged to a disco DJ in the 1970s. I spent 18 hours this weekend listening to the most amazing, impossible-to-find underground disco tunes! I'm bringing disco back. Not that I'm going to resell any of them, but just out of curiosity, I checked eBay and GEMM.com to see what some of these are worth. I spent about $400 on ten crates of records and the average single LP was starting at $50-100 each. Are you sure you want to make bowls out of those?! That's an expensive chip and pretzel bowl, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

Cool project. What temp do you put the oven at? Could you send me an email with the details. I'd love to try this.

Cindy
Cindy@myrecycledbags.com

Daniel Edlen said...

I like this idea! I'm seeing creative executions too.

Check out what I do with recycled LPs - vinylart.blogspot.com and tell me what you think!

Thanks!

Jenny said...

Oh yes!! This is a great craft! My dh has like a gazillion records that he is having a hard time getting rid of,,,maybe he'll feel good about his records be repurposed...neat idea!

Sonya said...

This is a pretty neat idea. I wish we still had some old records left. The ones we have are ones my hubby will never part with. However, if I run across some, I may buy them and do this. This is a really heat idea and would make a wonderful chip bowl!

Anonymous said...

Oh my god "my" preciouse vinyl!
find old vinyl ate: http://storevinyl.com

Anonymous said...

I know lots of vinyl enthusiasts or DJ's like me won't like this, but just use your old, totally scratched records, or go to the record store/ garbage/ random people and ask for crapped up records. I used ones that wouldn't even play. Don't use valuable records lol.

hippolover said...

Oh!!! I just have to try this!!!

Anonymous said...

quite interesting read. I would love to follow you on twitter.

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