Rock Around The Clock…

“…When the working day is done, girls – they want to have fun, Oh girls just want to have fun!”

There’s something about old vinyl that makes me want to start jumping around, singing into my hairbrush – perhaps it dates me but those shiny black discs make me come over all nostalgic.  Sigh. In my search for scratched records to cut up and recycle into jewellery I’ve found many 45’s that I couldn’t bear to break up, and until now they’ve sat there in a forlorn pile, gathering dust. There just had to be a use for them, and now I’ve found it! I’ve been making them into clocks.

What could be more appropriate? As a way of listening to music they may have been overtaken by other formats but as objects they are deliciously evocative of time. Where were you when the above record was released – were you even born then?

I still listen to my old vinyl and cherish it as I’m sure many do, and I would never recycle a record that is still playable – to someone, I know, that record is an old friend and I’ll leave it in the second hand shop so that they can find it. But any distressed beauties come home with me -  a pretty centre, a great title, a cool band or song or just something that’s funny or seems evocative, because these lovely, scuffed old relics deserve a second chance.

Want to buy a record clock? Just click on the pictures above and you will be taken to the appropriate part of the shop, or click here… Rock Around The Clock

You spin me

…right round baby, right round!

I’ve been working in vinyl again, and this time I think I’ve cracked the perfect design! These earrings are made from old vinyl records – even the cardboard mount they are sent on is made from the record cover, so nothing gets wasted at all. They look kind of like mini records themselves with that central hole, and the hoop shape makes them timeless yet on-trend. Does the thought of cutting up perfectly good records to make jewellery make you want to cry? Me too! I only use unplayable records as my material – I’m a bit of a vinyl junkie and will never part with my cherished record collection, so I’d never chop up a rare or playable disc. Find these babies in my shop; something tells me they will be very popular!

Cutting some vinyl

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.