Gift Idea: Record Bowl

In case some of you missed it, Baylor loves playing records on the juke box in my parents' basement.  I wanted to get something special for my dad for Christmas to commemorate this particular past time of theirs, so - after much looking online - we decided to try to make a cool bowl out of an LP.  Yes, I realize the juke box plays 45s, but they have that giant hole in the middle that would allow anything you put in the bowl to slip through.

We bought a copy of Billy Joel's An Innocent Man album on eBay, and soon after its arrival we set to work turning it into a bowl.  First, we gathered the necessary tools and supplies: cookie sheet, oven-safe glass jar, the record, and a bigger bowl.

After warming the oven up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, we stuck the cookie sheet, jar, and record into the oven.  Once it started to droop significantly, we brought it out for forming.

It doesn't get too too hot, so my sister was able to pluck it off with her fingers and toss it in the bowl for me to form.  An important note: the record starts cooling the instant you open the oven door so you have to work quickly.  We eventually started putting the record directly into the bowl upon opening the door so it would have absolutely NO time to cool.

It took a few tries (think eight) to get it just right, but eventually we ended up with a lovely formation.

And after it cooled all the way, this is what we ended up with.  Pretty neat, huh?

Since we had the album jacket and the liner notes just sitting around, I decided to use them to create a fun package for the bowl.  I made some fun raffia-like material by putting the liner notes through a paper shredder then crinkling them up.

And I took an old Fiestaware box and covered it with the album cover.

All in all I'd say it came out pretty cool.

After getting it all wrapped up, I took the playlist off the back of the jacket and used that as the gift tag.

I think Dad liked it, and I certainly had fun making it.  It would be a great gift for any music-lover on your gift list!