Make bookends from old vinyl records

I often wonder: when everyone is making LP bowls, LP coasters and now, LP bookends out of our adolescent artifacts, what is the world coming to? However, after seeing HRG's clever bookends idea over on Craftster, I willingly rifled through many worn album covers, feeling a few pangs of nostalgia, and finally settled on a Diana Ross (the later years) album and a generic Christmas album.

With hot water bubbling on the stove, and steamy water pouring from the faucet, I fumbled around trying to dip, pour and bend the albums at a right angle using a giant wooden spoon as my tool.

Now come on, a wooden spoon? The result was not so good. Read on to see what happened on my second attempt, and how to get it right the first time.

LP Bookends(click thumbnails to view gallery)

Needless to say, I took another trip down memory lane. This time I yanked two unmemorable Christmas albums from their covers without batting an eye, and raced back up to my boiling, album-bending cauldron.

Timing, utensils and plenty of boiling water in a huge sink were all I needed to make two lovely Christmas bookends to hold all my valuable Christmas(?) books. I would recommend giving it a test run with some unloved albums first.

What you need:

• Two vinyl albums
• Enough hot water to fill the sink or a container and cover the bottom half of the album
• Felt (or other fabric) to glue onto the base, to avoid scratching furniture
• Glue
• Rubber gloves (for safety's sake! I didn't wear these, but you might want to.)

What you do:

1. Boil lots of water to pour into the sink or the giant pan.
2. Dip the album into the water up to the bottom of the label, making sure your outside label is straight.
3. Start bending the album as it softens.
4. Take a utensil, and flatten the edges that are in the water as they start to ripple.
5. Remove the right angle album from the hot water and continue to flatten and smooth the bent end.
6. Cut a piece of felt to fit on the bottom of the album, and glue it to the bottom.
7. Add these unusual bookends to your shelf, and enjoy the immortal life of the once dominant vinyl LP!

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