Recycled Crafts: Vinyl Record Bowl

This is an easy-to-make recycled craft idea I stumbled on by accident: vinyl record bowl (or ashtray/incense holder).

Last year, when I was visiting a friend in Kentucky, I had a John Lennon/Yoko Ono record in the back seat of my car, close to the window. It was a pretty hot day, and when I went back to my car to go to the store, I noticed my record had been destroyed. It was melted and disfigured so bad, I knew the record would never play again. I went inside and told my friend about my melted record, and she told me not to worry, she knew of a craft that would make sure the record could still get some use; even it could never be played again.

For this craft, you will need:

#1. Record(s)

#2. Large metal bowl (or any household, oven-safe bowl)

#3. Your home oven

#4. Oven Mits

To Make:

#1. Pre-heat the oven to a very low setting. (ovens will vary, try 150-190)

#2. Carefully place the bowl, upside down, inside the oven.

#3. Place record on top of upside down bowl.

#4. Heat for a few minutes (3-7) until the record begins to soften

#5. Wearing your oven mits, pull bowl and record out of the oven.

#6. Flip the bowl right side up, and press the softened record into the bowl, to form.

#7. While record is still warm, make whatever adjustments you like, to give your record bowl a unique form and shape.

You may think this is weird, but that recycled record of mine is one of my favorite possessions. I could have easily just been upset and thrown my record out in the trash, but instead, It sits on my coffee table, as a reminder of our need to not just so wastefully consume and throw out the "UN-usable." It is important to find ideas like this one, if we are truly going to be able to create a sustainable planet. We need to reduce the items we use, and re-use the items we're "done" with. Recycling our old, or damaged things, into craft projects, is a great way to do this.

I also think that craft-making is an excellent way to teach the next generation of children about reducing, re-using and recycling. By having in-home craft sessions like this record craft, and in-school recycled-craft sessions, we can make sure to express to our children early-on, how much we value, and we ask them to value the well-being of our planet. Human beings learn by habit, and the younger children are when they learn about recycling, the better chance they will have at practicing waste reduction for the rest of their lives.