Tips on Turning Your Scratched Records into Fancy Bowls

If you have a stack of old records that have been warped, scratched or other wise rendered unplayable, you do not have to throw them out. In fact they make some of the neatest bowls out of them. All you really need is an oven, a large pan, some gloves, or oven mitts that resist heat, and your old records.

The first thing you will want to do before you start to make your bowls out of your old records is check all of the labels on an internet sight. You don't want to accidentally ruin the first Elvis record even though it has a scratch? Ebay.com would be a good way to check the prices, but remember just because someone is asking fifty dollars for something, does not mean that people will pay that much for it. . Once you have verified that your records are not a holy grail of record collecting you are ready to prep them.

The First thing you will notice, especially if you have the old forties five speed records, is that there is a hole in the center of them. You can choose to both leave it alone and put large things in the bowl, pinch the hole shut when you are forming the bowl, plug it with a cork, or laminate it with another kind of plastic. Many people laminate it with plastic, which keeps the hole clear and looking like a record. But I prefer to take pliers before I start forming the bowl and carefully close the hole. This method really only works best with the large records with the small holes in the middle not the smaller ones with the large holes. Also it may take you a couple tries to get it right so do not get discouraged if you puncture the first two or three.

Now that you have it planned out what you are going to do. Stick the record in the oven on a low heat and monitor it. You might want to experiment with the heat yourself, because it is an art form and each artist is different, but you should start it out at more then 200 degrees. As soon as it starts to deform, take it out of the oven, pinch the center hole shut, and from it into a bowl. You do not want to have it in there to long, because it will melt. Do this quickly so that it does not have a chance to cool. Now that it is in the shape of a bowl carefully set it aside and let it cool off. Once it Is down again it should be ready for you to put your keys in or something else in it.