Craft Test Dummies

My kid’s daycare had a bunch of scratched records that they wanted to recycle into art. So I thought spin-art record clocks would be just the ticket!

We first took a little sandpaper and scratched up the records even more- that way the tempera and acrylic paints that we’d be using would stick better to the vinyl. I probably could have spray Gesso-d the records, too, but I’m a bit lazy. And I didn’t have any spray Gesso handy!

After they were sanded and wiped off a bit, I swiped on a quick base coat of acrylic paint. Really just slopped in on with a sponge, and then we put them on the record player. (Lucky for me, it’s easy to find record players that still spin, even if the needles are broken.)  I put it on the “45″ setting (the faster one) and dripped on some thinned-down  acrylic paints. (I used Pearlescent Liquid Acrylics, but you could use tempera or whatever.)

Unfortunately, the record player doesn’t really spin fast enought to create that “spin art” splattered look, so we improvised: we used our fingers to smoosh the paint around a little more. So a few drips here, a little finger painting there, and we were satisfied.

We let them sit out in the sun to dry for a few hours, and then I sealed it with some spray varnish in “matte.” Really, don’t skip this step… you’ll be sad if your paint peels off!  Then I got some number stickers and placed them on the appropriate places, and then added some flat-sided glass marbles with heavy-duty craft goop. I like the 3-D effect!

I found that the record hole was a little small for our clock mechanism, but I used my Dremel tool to open it up just a bit. I’m guessing a little vigorous sanding would have done the trick, too. So then I slide the clockworks in, followed the packages instructions, and Hey! We had a clock.

I did have to add some extra “goop” to keep the clockworks attached to the record- the marbles made it a little top-heavy, and it wanted to spin around. You could probably avoid this by skipping the glass and just using foam or other number stickers. Get creative with it!

So the short list of materials is here:

• old 33′ records
• sandpaper
• acrylic paints
• eye droppers and/or paintbrushes or foam brushes
• number stickers
• clock-making kit
• super craft Goop (gel-like adhesive, suitable for plastics)
•  Spray varnish

This is a fun, super-easy recycling craft, good for preschoolers through middle school. Heck, I may even do one myself for my studio… and I’ll put on it “There’s always time for crafts!”

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