How to make a record bowl

Making a record bowl is really easy and cheap, and you won’t need to buy anything you haven’t already got.

Making a record bowl is a great way of recycling consumables, and says something about who you are. Did you choose a record with a kitsch forties-style label or a rare punkette 7-inch with day-glo vinyl? The choice is yours!

What you will need:

1) A 7-inch or 12-inch record depending on how big you want your record bowl to be

2) An oven

3) An oven-safe bowl

4) A clear acrylic sealer (optional)

How to make your record bowl

First, preheat the oven to 225 degrees centigrade – this should take about 10 minutes. Then put the bowl in the middle of the oven upside-down, and put your record on top of that. Bake for 5 minutes and no more.

After 5 minutes the record will be quite soft and melty so you can start shaping your record how you want it. The record will only be warm, and totally safe to touch, even with bare fingers.

If your record starts to cool before you have got it into the shape you want, don’t worry. You can melt it again and again!

If you bake it a second time, you can place the record in the bowl – this will help it keep a bowl shape.

And that’s it. We did say it would be easy!

If you think you might be using the bowl for nibbles, give it a coat of clear acrylic sealer and let it dry, to make sure the record doesn’t get scratched – not that you’re going to be able to play it by the time you’ve melted it in an oven 🙂

Uses for your record bowl

A record bowl makes a perfect gift because it’s so cheap and easy and it’s made by your own fair hands so it’s a gift that comes from the heart. You can fill it with knick-knacks and give it to a pal for her birthday or if she’s feeling down because she’s split up with her boyfriend again.

A record bowl makes a great plant pot. Drill some more holes in the bottom for drainage, though…

A record bowl also doubles up as a great picture frame. If you superglue something interesting to the inside bottom of the bowl – like a troll doll or a windup toy – you now have a 3-D picture and vinyl frame. Just attach to your wall so it hangs like a gorgeous vinyl flower!

The above photo features record bowls designed and made by indie crafter Amanda Gouldie. Go, check out her stuff!