https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/vinyl-cuff • Posted by Making Stuff
Increase your cool quotient by turning old records into a dashing wrist cuff or a bracelet. choose an album you love, or make a statement with “girls Just wanna have Fun”, or the bangles. This is a way more interesting way to state your position than slogan tees! <b>Project by Sophie Parker from the book Making Stuff: An Alternative Craft Book.</b> <img src="http://img.coplusk.net/books/0000/0119/1904772617.01.LZZZZZZZ_153x200.jpg"> <u>About Erin</u> Erin Hensley is a native Kansan transplanted to England and lives with her husband in Bristol. Frugality led her to be creative with gift giving and reusing things she had, or found or took from others’ recycling boxes! When not doing strange things with tape measures for her business, Erin Originals, she eats and writes about food, attends gigs and does her best to keep in touch with her huge and far-away family.
Increase your cool quotient by turning old records into a dashing wrist cuff or a bracelet. choose an album you love, or make a statement with “girls Just wanna have Fun”, or the bangles. This is a way more interesting way to state your position than slogan tees! <b>Project by Sophie Parker from the book Making Stuff: An Alternative Craft Book.</b> <img src="http://img.coplusk.net/books/0000/0119/1904772617.01.LZZZZZZZ_153x200.jpg"> <u>About Erin</u> Erin Hensley is a native Kansan transplanted to England and lives with her husband in Bristol. Frugality led her to be creative with gift giving and reusing things she had, or found or took from others’ recycling boxes! When not doing strange things with tape measures for her business, Erin Originals, she eats and writes about food, attends gigs and does her best to keep in touch with her huge and far-away family.
Put your oven on to heat up on a low setting — about 100° Celsius should do it.
Choose a section of the label that you like (it doesn’t have to be the direct centre, but you want it to be across a wide-ish part of the record), and put your ruler along the top edge. Pressing down hard, make four or five cuts, one on top of the other. This should be enough to snap the record in two.
Decide on the width you want your bracelet to be — this one is about 3 cm wide—and do the same again, that width down the record, so that you’re left with a long, thinnish strip.
Your oven should be warmish by now. Take a baking sheet or a piece of foil and place your strip of vinyl on the sheet and insert into the oven. Given the make of the vinyl and the heat of your oven, it might take from a minute to several minutes for it to start melting, so keep checking. You will be able to smell it—a not-so-very nice plastic-y type smell—so be sure to get some ventilation into the room. When it starts to get a bit wavy and warped at the ends, it’s time to remove it for shaping. Use oven mitts and caution when removing— it will be HOT!
Have something wrist sized in position to shape it, such a glass jar, smaller for a more wraparound style bracelet, larger for more of a cuff or if you used a larger LP. The vinyl will cool quickly so work with some dexterity here, but don’t panic, as you can always reheat it if you want to reshape.
Allow it to cool on the jar, and remove it once easy to handle (about 5–10 minutes). Remember, if you’re unhappy with the shape, just pop it back in the oven for a minute or so and reshape as necessary. However, too many ‘reshapes’ and the label can get scorched.
Sand the edges, so that they round off a little bit and don’t dig into your skin. Don’t be too vigorous or you’ll sand away your label! We’re just cleaning up the edges here and there.
Lightly varnish the bracelet on the facing side, using it sparingly on the edges, as they tend to drip (you can varnish the inside to disguise any such casualties). Allow to dry as recommended by the varnish manufacturer.