Well, if you’ve been a Piano Gal follower for a while you know the answer is YES!
The thing about vinyl records is that some are valuable, many are not. Just like a lot of products in circulation, we have an abundance of them collecting dust in our grandma’s basement. You will find them for free, or a whopping dollar at garage and estate sales. They are everywhere. There are gobs of records that no longer play, so they just sit there doing nothing. They end up in the landfill. Sound familiar? It’s just like the pianos that is upcycle.
The thing with records, is that when they burn, they create icky fumes that you should not inhale. So, knowing what you are doing when you go about melting vinyl is important. I make a lot of things out of vinyl. I make functional things and I make things that are simply pretty. Either way, I like to reuse them and give them new life.
I’m not really going to tell you exactly how I create my work, but I would love to give you some tips, so that you can go and create something original for yourself.
Tips to melting vinyl:
1. Don’t burn it. Vinyl melts fast. You don’t want it to smoke or catch fire. One, that looks bad. Two, you don’t want to breathe that in.
2. Not all vinyl melts. Well, dang it. The thinner the record, the easier it melts. Really old records, like Victrola, don’t melt at all. Those suckers are really thick and simply don’t melt. If you drop them, they shatter.
3. Only melt records that you’ve looked into their value first. Some records are worth a lot. Some have sentimental value. Always look into that before you turn that record into something else. If it can stay a record, certainly keep it making music. However, those old records that are scratched, chipped, or only worth, um, nothing, are fair game.
One of my signature products is a vinyl record flower.
I make these by melting the vinyl, petal by petal.
To see how I make my roses, check out the video on The Piano Gal Shop on Facebook!
