Vinyl Record Bookends

Why buy Urban Outfitters'vinyl bookends when you can make your own for free?

They sell these bookends online for £20.00 but you can make your own in 5 minutes with little more than boiling water.

Step 1: What You'll Need

You will need the following:

vinyl records - scratched or simply unwanted records are easily available for free, small 7" ones will work better for smaller books

flat bottomed heat resistant container

kettle or pot for boiling water

block of wood (optional)

Step 2: Getting Steamy

Boil some water. You'll want enough to have about an inch of water in your container.

Dip your record into the hot water. The vinyl should bend easily once it heats up.

Step 3: Better Shape Up

You can use a piece of wood to flatten out any waviness.

If the shape isn't quite right after you remove the record from the water, simply dip it back in and try again.

Step 4: Take Things Up a Notch

If you're not happy with the simple design of the Urban Outfitters' bookends you can change it up.

With a few cuts and another bend, I made a set of bookends out of a larger 12" LP

Comments

[ChristianOlsen]

Vinyl Record,[url=http://www.icollectrecords.com/]sell old records[/url] , Is a good source of vinyl record now.

[lumpee]

I used the oven at a low temp to bend my vinyl,use mitts and it works well with no mess.

[Tardisaholic]

Record bookends would be good to keep all of my vinyl together! :D

[timlewisnm]

How did you get that etch on there? I should probably search for that on the site... just curious though?

[ModMischief]

It's actually just white acrylic paint

[SantaB]

You think it'd be too much to ask for steps on how you created your stencil (if this is in fact how you did it)?

[love2make]

awesome! i like the painting idea

[beckymcmath]

I can't wait to try this project! What do you use to cut the record? (To get the fancy shape in the last photo...)

[ModMischief]

I used a hot knife. Cutting through the vinyl is a little slow going, but not too difficult.

[follow]

 great idea!! i had some 78 records and wasnt sure it would work since they are not made of vinyl; some of them did turn out great, others simply would not bend.

thanks!

[modhomeecteacher]

I did a set of these about two years ago for DIY Life. They're now being offered at Urban Outfitters?? How late can they be?
ModHomeEcTeacher

[ModMischief]

I was surprised that there wasn't already an instructable for these but my searches didn't come up with anything.

[modhomeecteacher]

Here's the project link. No problem, I just think it's funny that they are only now coming out with these for retail sales.

[ChrysN]

Wow, they bend that easily?  I love the one you made in step 4!

[mikeasaurus]

I thought it took more different heat to make a clean bend, nice.
Maybe a new use for some garage-sale records I found recently...