Upcycled CD Art

 This summer's theme is music: LIBRARIES ROCK! So, naturally, I had to come up with / find / steal plenty of music-themed art projects. I'm going to post my craft ideas on this blog before SRP starts, so anyone can use these for their upcoming programs, too. Please enjoy. And share. And tell your friends.

Anyway. Let's start off with two ways to use old CDs or DVDs to make some new and exciting art projects.

CD Scratch Art

Did you ever, as a kid, crayon over a paper in bright colors, and then in black? And then, with a pencil or a toothpick, scratch through the black to the colors beneath, to make some very cool art?

Or, perhaps you've just bought the pre-made scratch-off bookmarks or other shapes that they sell through Oriental Trading and other such websites?

Either way. Scratch art is very cool! And it's also super easy to make old CDs into brand new artwork. All you need is:
- Old CDs or DVDs
- Acrylic paint & brushes
- Toothpicks or something else of similar size
- Pencil (optional)







Step One:


Using acrylic paint, completely cover the shiny side of an old CD or DVD disc. It's totally your call what color you use, but I really like the way that the black makes the shiny silver stand out. 








Step Two: You don't have to plan out your design ahead of time, but it can be nice to have at least a vague idea of what you're doing. If you feel so inclined, sketch out your design lightly with a pencil. It can be as simple or as complicated as you desire.













 Step Three: Using a toothpick (or something else of that size - a small dowel, the end of a paintbrush, a BBQ kabob skewer, whatever), scratch through the paint to make a design. 

Enjoy the wondrous beauty that is your new piece of artwork.

CD Suncatchers

 You need actual CDs for this one, because DVDs aren't put together the same way, but any CD should do! I am using discs from an old audio book for this, and they're working perfectly. Excellent use of discards if I do say so myself! 

There are a couple ways to do this that I've seen, involving puffy paints pr colored glue to make the lines of "stained glass," but I'm doing this with kids, so I'm going for the easiest method: markers.


Step One: Remove the Silver

I read a few sets of instructions online that weren't totally clear on this part, so I'm going to spell it out in very clear steps.  Put your CD down and scratch the top of it with something somewhat sharp - I used the edge of my scissors - to make a little scratch in the silver. You might even see it start to flake away. 

See that little scratch there? Now, put a piece of tape over it - regular old Scotch tape will work, but you'll need quite a bit of it.









Now, pull off the tape. A big chunk of lovely silver CD should peel off with the tape. 

Excellent. Now we've got it started.

Now, cover the rest of the CD (again, top side) with more tape. 

When you peel it off, the rest of the silver should come off, too! 


Most of mine came off in one large, silver sheet (which I saved, and will figure out what to do with it later.)


If you have any small bits of silver left (mine usually stuck around the outside edges and also a bit around the sticker in the center), you can use another piece of tape to remove it.


Getting off the library sticker was the hardest part, but Goo Gone and rubbing alcohol worked for that. 

Step Two: Color the plastic.

As I said above, there are a few different methods for this, but I wanted to use what I thought would work best for my patrons. Puffy paint and colored glue would look amazing, but I didn't want to make the kids wait for that to dry, so we're just using markers. As before, you can make your design as simple or elaborate as you like, though I recommend coloring over a piece of white paper, so you can see the colors on the clear plastic CD as brightly as possible. The design above (on the musical note CD) was made by coloring in shapes, and outlining them with a black marker.

Step Three: Profit? Enjoy.



I will add to the blog as new ideas are planned and tested. Please check back soon to see what else I've got planned!