A little bit ago we wrote about some super groovy vinyl bowls that were for sale at Given. A lot of the comments were about making your own vinyl bowl, so we decided to give it a shot. Well, we're hooked. Here's a How To guide so you can get hooked too!
How To: Make a Vinyl Bowl
Get a metal (or glass) bowl that's a little bit smaller than the record. Make sure you're happy with the size of the bowl, because once your record warps into it it'll be roughly the same dimension.
Get a can of something. The can is placed on the center of the record (we'll get to that) to help put weight on it so it shapes into the bowl.
We set our oven for 200 degrees, but we've heard some people go as high as 250.
Place the record on top of the bowl. Make sure it's centered so that it shapes into the bowl evenly.
(sorry it's so dark) Place the can on top of the record.
Now we wait. We typically check every three minutes or so. It'll start to morph around the five minute mark. If you set your oven to 200 degrees it's not going to be hot enough for the vinyl to melt (that would be bad). Just keep checking in on it. It'll eventually start to sink into the bowl. If you're unhappy with the shape it's taking, poke it a bit with a metal spatula (or something like that). After about ten minutes you should take it out of the oven.
The vinyl cools pretty quickly, so once it's out of the oven the shape is pretty much set. However, if you're unhappy with your shape you can easily just put it back in the oven (but we recommend letting the bowl cool down first) and try again.
Hooray! A fun new bowl for you or a friend.
We're going to use ours on our bedside table to store jewelry that we forget to take off before we hop into bed.
Additional notes:
1. If possible, keep all nearby windows open. The fumes can be a bit overwhelming.
2. Vinyl is in no way food safe. These types of bowls should not house food items of any kind (even dried food).
3. Each oven is different, but we've never met someone who needed to set their oven above 250 degrees.
Comments (16)
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OMG. Please stop destroying records!!!
view hetta13's profile
Melting vinyl records not only produces toxic fumes, but also places toxins on the item that is being used to mold the record--said item should not be used for cooking/eating after melting the vinyl on it. the bowl really shouldn't be used for eating either unless there is something lining it.
I can't imagine why a nifty bowl is worth melting your brain by inhaling uncontrolled fumes. yuck.
view FannyL's profile
more from someone else I found talking about this craft idea -
Heating Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) is never a good idea, and especially not good near food or food preparation areas (ovens, as suggested in this article). The heating of this material releases Dioxins, a environmentally persistant carcinogen and genetic time bomb. Greenpeace has labeled PVC as "the poison plastic" because of its environmental and genetic hazards. When a vinyl-sided house burns, for instance, much dioxin is released into the atmosphere. It eventually settles in the oceans where it is absorbed by fish. Dioxins have been found in the breast milk of Eskimos, who rely on marine life for survival. As a startling example of dioxin's affect on health, look at the before and after photos of Ukrainian president Victor Yuschenko. Apparently, one drop of dioxin was placed in his food in an attempt at political assassination during his presidential campaign
view FannyL's profile
Anyone who willingly destroys a perfectly fine LP deserves to look like Victor Yuschenko.
Harrumph!
view spinsLPs's profile
OMG WHY WOULD YOU USE THAT RECORD
OF ALL THE SHITTY RECORDS IN THE WORLD, WHY DK?!
view jenny!'s profile
cool....thanks!
does it need to be an empty can that you put on top?
view hanako66's profile
You want the can to be full so it's heavier. Oh, and about wasting good LP's? My DK record was warped.
view sallyTV's profile
thanks for the toxic headsup--I have no good ventilation in the kitchen--all fumes end up in the bedroom . . . I'll have to skip it.
view jen_g's profile
Can we have a site-wide moratorium on these punkass crafts? It's not groovy, it's not useful, it's just braindead.
First the apple trivet/bowl and now this.
view Palmetto's profile
Why wreck a dead kennedys record? Someone would have bought it on ebay! Then you could use the profit to buy a bowl ;)
view muskawo's profile
What is the print on the table next to your bowl?
view xavierpires's profile
I used to do this with my warped 7"s except I would warm them up flat and then pinch the edges to make them into smaller bowls/ashtrays.
Didn't realize it was so toxic, however :\
view mariamercedes's profile
I think other than the toxic fume part, this article is great. It's very detailed and I can see a vinyl bowl being stylish and useful.
Yes, there are good vinyls that should never be used for this purpose, but there are also plenty of them need to be destroyed from this world...
Palmetto, I don't think this is punkass. It's somebody's effort to share their crafty discovery. It might have flaws such as not knowing the process is toxic and its impact to the environment, but it's a solid contribution regardless.
view binaryscape's profile
If you're worried about the toxicity, a friend of mine formed her record bowl outside on a hot sunny day. She placed the record on the bottom of an upside down bowl and let the heat of the sun melt the record over it.
view mary pat's profile
"We're going to use ours on our bedside table to store jewelry that we forget to take off before we hop into bed."
Is there really such a necessity?
Making your own crafts = COOL
Wasting (even warped) DK records to release toxins in order to make a silly bowl = NOT COOL
view ridge_van_winkle's profile
vinyl is not god
view hiroshima's profile