DIY: Recycled Vinyl Record Planters

DISCLAIMER: No valuable vinyl was harmed in the making of this craft. I swear on a stack of 1963 Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan LPs.

The space we garden in currently is small. I joke that it’s the size of a postage stamp . In reality, it is a bit larger than that and we are rather fortunate that we have the yard that we do have, living in the center of town. Still…the point is, my garden space is small and about half of it is driveway, that is unused for the things that driveways are supposed to be used for. We’ve been car-free for 6 years now and a car in our driveway instead of bicycles,scooters & potted plants is an idea as foreign to me as eating peanut butter on hotdogs.

Most of my plants are in containers,including the veggies. Earlier this Spring,I found I lacked enough containers ( well, duh…who in their right mind has enough containers for 70 pepper plants? ) so I decided to make some.

Using the standard method of making a bowl from a vinyl record, I heated the record upside down in the oven on a metal bowl until it was droopy but instead of leaving the edges wavy & fluted, I squeezed the folds together to make more of a solid pot form.

I used my bare hands (because I’m either a badass or a dumbass…you choose) but it probably would be recommended to use workgloves or even gardening gloves to protect your hands from scorching hot vinyl.

I found that it worked well with some of the areas that didn’t seal as tight on first molding to just simply reheat those areas with a lighter and press to get the desired effect. It also worked to stick the “pot’ back into the oven ,upside down over a mason jar and let the oven meld the creases even tighter. Reheating w/ a lighter and hand molding left a pot looking like it’s former incarnation, complete w/ grooves. reheating in the oven made a completely solid black vinyl pot, with some very nice whirly doo-dads & nice design elements around the brim.

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