Cutting some vinyl

July 29, 2007 by Bird
Filed under Craft Diary, Show And Tell

One of my favourite art materials right now is old vinyl records. I was looking through our collection of much beloved albums and singles one day when I discovered a bonanza of unexpected trash. “What the hell? We have a haircut 100 single? WHY???” It turned out that some of R’s previous housmates had less than glittering music tastes and would occasionally leave their more embarrassing choices behind when they moved on to pastures new. Not wanting these to go to landfill inspired me to see if I couldn’t do something with them.

My first pair of vinyl earrings I just couldn’t part with and I’m glad I didn’t, they are one of my favourite items of jewellery. There just doesn’t seem to be a limit to the ways I can use it for necklace making, and anything made using vinyl fragments immediately adds edge to whatever else I’m wearing.

The trouble with using vinyl record fragments for jewellery is that vinyl in this form is brittle and difficult to cut; it’s taken me an age to figure out the best way to do it. It’s not rocket science but if I told you my method I’m afraid I’d have to eat you. The other problem and the worst one by far is that no matter how lousy the record, cutting one up gives me terrible pangs of guilt and nostalgia. I love records. We still have a turntable and often give our old vinyl a spin, so when I’m scouring charity shops for suitable material I’ll only buy the scratched ones that no-one could listen to anyway. With careful cutting I get rid of the damage, have something fun to wear and keep some vinyl out of landfill.