101 THINGS TO DO WITH

CDs and DVDs

RECYCLING SOURCES

https://www.greendisk.com/gdsite/default.aspx – is a great company that recycles technotrash. Worth checking out!

http://www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk/where_can_I_recycle/cds_and_dvds.php

 

General

Does anyone know the
best adhesive to use for sticking CD Roms?

In response to this I have
received the following:-

“In
Minneapolis there is a yearly parade of art cars – old cars transformed into rolling
masterpieces.  One guy covers his car with CDs and uses the glue one would use for
applying fake fingernails (the professional glue, not the kind in the drugstore kit).
  He says that nail glue was the most permanent adhesive he had found.”

Thanks to Jennifer Wegiarz for
this useful information as well as another suggestion for using CDs –
not that I am
suggesting you stick them all over your Dad’s car!

Apparently the trick to cutting CDs is to warm
them with a hair dryer and then use utility kitchen scissors.

Anon

• 
  Jewelry / jewellery: You can just cut any shape from
  a CD very carefully and use it as a necklace, a pin, a
  barrette…this look is very futuristic and all your friend will
  love the cool reflection effect. (Maybe you have to file the edges
  to make them smooth)

  Christine

   
• I have stuck several CDs low
  down to a fence in a shady part of my garden which reflects sunlight
  onto the normally shaded flower bed. The extra sunlight makes plants
  that usually grow in full sun to thrive in the shady area.

Jenny

• Glue a lid of an old sports bottle lid (the one you
  open by pulling the valve, I forget what’s it called) or a
  dish-washing detergent lid to the hole of a CD. Next, you blow a
  balloon with air then, trying not to lose any air, pop the balloon
  onto the lid. Place the hovercraft on a smooth surface, a glass
  table is good. A great toy for kids.

Eya Farev

• Another use for CD’s.Glue on old jewelry…or the
  best is the cheap molded beads from Mardi Gras. The prestrung beads
  are glued on in rows covering the ugly side of the cd. We used hot
  glue. You can also hang loose strands on the edge for a fringed
  effect. Glue a string at the top to hang it with. We made these for
  our outside Christmas tree and they looked spectacular. The silver
  side adds sparkle and they are weatherproof!

Catherine
Singleton

• Zzip-tie a string of cd’s
  together. On the last CD in the string, drill out a small notch big
  enough to lock into a vertical blind holder.

Sean Shrum

• To make a photo display, you will need approximately
  3 and 1/2 yards of decorative ribbon between 2 and 3 inches wide.
  Cut a 30 inch length of ribbon and attach a bow and a hanger to one
  end and cut the other at a slant. Glue 3 CDs to the ribbon, shiny
  side out and equally spaced . Glue photos to the CDs for vertical
  hanging. These look especially nice on a very narrow wall section.

Inetia C.

• You can
  make a guitar pick by tracing a real guitar pick and cutting it out.

Chase

• My kids love their shiny fish they made. Take 2 cds and some colored paper. Cut lips and a tail out of the colored
  paper and glue to the label side, glue label sides together, fan fold a 4 x 6 inch piece of colored paper and slide it through the
  center hole for a fin, attach a googily eye and hang with fishing line.

Nancy
Clanton

• Drill 4 holes in the edges of several
  CDs. Use wire to tie them together so they create a sheet. Hang
  these sheets of CDs from the ceiling and they create a partition,
  yet light is shared between the divided sides.

Bob
 

• Cds or dvds drill a very small hole top and bottom of the cd or
  dvd, add magazine photos or your own printed pictures; tie strong
  cord or string linking three cds or dvds and hang up. Now you got
  your own mobile picture frame also good for reflecting sunshine into
  a room.

  Steven Moran
   

• I put CD’s on fence posts and around
  the chicken coop to deter hawks and other birds who would like a
  chicken dinner. The shiny reflection works like a distraction as
  they fly over. I put CD’s on fence posts and hang them from trees to
  deter deer from the garden.

Dar Brandon

• Use as scrapers when cleaning pots and pans.  Use them as-is, or
  cut them into any desired shape to best fit your pots and pans.

Keitharoo

• 
  Marybeth Norton says use cds as a hanging mobile. Paint cds
  add stick on decorations cut hole in them put string or wire and
  make a hanging mobile. Cleverer way to scare birds!!
   

• John
  says – use the cds to scare away not only birds, but rabbits
  too. Pesky things eat at your carrots and other fruits/veggies.
   

• First, stick 7 or 9  unwanted
  cd’s to each other with a glue (so that the written label won’t be
  seen). Make two more sets in a similar manner. Now stick one end of
  a cd set (which will be a side) to the end of another set which will
  be the base of the rack (L-shaped). Then stick one more set which
  makes the other side wall.

  Make 3-4 “U” shaped sections as above.

  Now glue each of these sections on top
  of one another. Finally you have got a small jewellery rack.

  Note– make
  sure that you support the sides of cd’s whilst gluing and until the
  glue has dried to keep them firm make the rack steady.

Atson
Thomas
 

Mari

• My son needed to make a 3-D Name tag for art
  class that is made out of things he is interested in. (xbox games,
  music, computer games, board games etc..) and we could not use any
  “normal” art stuff. We decided to use a cd and glue scrabble letters
  to it and cut out pictures of his favorite games to glue on. Also,
  we used ear buds as the holder to go around his neck.

  Dennae and Son
   

• Use them to decorate the
  sides of a contemporary (box style) table by mounting them in a
  scalloped pattern on the table sides. A black finish on the
  remainder of the wood would be cool. The one that I want to build
  had three different sizes of boxes that get smaller toward the
  bottom with lights that shine down the sides. (A design by Chris
  Lowell) This would reflect on the CDs and give it an really dramatic
  effect. 

Rick Colvin

• Make a lovely original
  earrings tree. Drill small holes in a stack of cds; Using a large
  dowel (which fits the center of the cds), score the dowel at three
  inch intervals); Glue the dowel to a round or square wooden base.
  Spray paint the dowel and the base. Slide the cds over the dowel,
  inserting into the grooves. Voila a cool looking earrings tree.

Lise Lirette

• I used my old arm patches
  (Police/Fire/Military) glued to CD’s and you have coasters.

Ernest J.
Theriot

• Cut the cds into Squares
  and Rectangles and fit the together to make a mirror. Works best
  with different colors.

Casey Z.

• I am in the
  process of using some old cds to create a Christmas tree.  The
  bottom row would be as wide as you wish and then proceed upward as
  you eliminate a cd from each row.  To prepare the backside,
  glue two cds together so you don’t have any unpleasant labels
  showing.  Add some bows and Christmas balls, hang a shiny bow
  at the top to use as a hanging device and enjoy.

Donna

• My CD holiday tree
  decoration thing was great here in the US. I did the outside trees
  next to the road. I made phone wire loops and used them to attach
  the CDs so they would swing in the wind.

The Microsoft DevNet
packages come quarterly in sets of over 15. Each is a different
jewel tone so it had a real appearance of Christmas decorations
during the daylight hours. The view at night was even more
spectacular. I was concerned about the reflection, too, but the
headlights hit the CDs randomly hung and often moving with the wind.
They were visible from a block away.

I met the school bus to
let the children know that the software was old and boring – just in
case they were tempted.

Setting the CDs in cement
for garden step stones was not as successful. They did not retain
the holographic effect evenly and looked mottled or just like plates
of plastic.

“Showey”

Pappy Price

Then fold another doily in quarters and
fit it over the 1/4 CD and glue it on. 

Looking at the photo, glue the 2 parts of CD’s together at the angel’s waist.  Using a 1 inch mirror, button, sequin, seashell, anything you have that is close to that size- as her head, glue it on with just the bottom touching the top as shown.  Loop a ribbon for her hanger and glue it on the back of the head.  Tie a matching bow at the waist.  Cut a tiny silver or gold piece of tinsel, etc. as the halo and glue it on.  I like to use the long garland that has a wire in it and has the loose stars on it for the halo. You only need about 1/2 to 1 inch for the halo.

 Lainey
Lee.

• Cds can be cut into the shape of a star. Slide a light
  bulb-end through the center hole. this works as the star above the
  manger nativity.

Heather

• You can sharpen the outer side
  of the CD rom and use it as regular paper cutting knife for cutting
  clippings from newspapers , art work etc.

Anand Ghurye

We do not have many
decks in the U.K. but this suggestion may be useful for preventing house
martins from nest building on the outside of houses.

I have
been taken to task with regards this suggestion.  Terry Jones
points out that these little birds travel thousands of miles from
Africa, eat tons of insects and cause no harm.  If the droppings
bother you nail a piece of plastic at right angles to the wall beneath
to catch them and wipe it off each year.

• They would
  make an excellent marker for an adventure trail.  Hang the CDs
  from trees, fences, signs etc. to make a trail for others to follow
  behind you.  This would be especially effective at night,
  somewhere dark, where torches would have to be used to see the
  reflective surfaces.   Mark the other side of each CD with
  a letter from a phrase or name and when the kids following the trail
  get back to base they can arrange the CDs to find the answer to the
  quiz.

• They make a tool to attach to trees/shrubs/even
  laying on the ground (put a stick in center hole to keep in place –
  doh!) to either mark your trail, preventing circular routing, or,
  signalling for assistance.

SargeDude

Cover for Square tissue box
– Use 6 cds of different colours or all gold looks good also. 
The cd for the top has to have the big circle removed in order for
the tissues to come up through it.  With a tiny nail heated on
the stove burner, burn four tiny holes in each cd opposite each
other and fasten together with gold cord.  Form 5 together, one
for the bottom and four for the sides, and insert tissue box. 
Pull a tissue half way out and put 6th cd on top and fasten all
together. – Use 6 cds of different colours or all gold
looks good also.  The cd for the top has to have the big circle
removed in order for the tissues to come up through it.  With a
tiny nail heated on the stove burner, burn four tiny holes in each
cd opposite each other and fasten together with gold cord. 
Form 5 together, one for the bottom and four for the sides, and
insert tissue box.  Pull a tissue half way out and put 6th cd
on top and fasten all together.

Ms. Match

Please be careful when heating the nail on a stove burner. 
It may be safer to use a small drill.

• 
  Disco ball
  – Cut them up into squares of about 1 cm with sharp and tough
  scissors, glue onto a styrofoam ball and you have a disco ball!

Tyler

• A
  variation on the above would be to stick them onto a polystyrene wig
  stand which could be used as an ornament or, perhaps even a
  headphone holder!!!!!
  

• Pile them
  up and see how far you can kick all of them.  Get your friends
  to see if they can beat your score.

 Lemm
S

• Game 
  –  Draw a large target on the ground made up of several
  different size circles inside each other.   Place scores
  in each circle, with the smallest inner circle being the largest
  score. Then roll the CDs on their edge towards the target (similar
  to bowls).  Where the CD comes to rest (flat) is the score
  earned.  If it covers a line no score is given.
  

Vase/Bowl
– melt over a can in the oven to make dishes for flower arrangements
or sweets etc. (Apparently this works with tomato paste cans and
vinyl records).
– melt over a can in the oven to make dishes for flower arrangements
or sweets etc. (Apparently this works with tomato paste cans and
vinyl records).

Nancy 

CAUTION – I have received the following warning from Elliot Clayton
regarding heating CDs in the oven

All three
tips from Stephanie Sirois 

• Take a
  fishing line and hang the discs along the fence around the garden to
  keep the birds away.

Tina

• Pot stands
  – Glue wooden beads to the bottom of the CD.  Makes an
  excellent low cost stand for mini flowerpots.

• Finger
  plates/Room names – drill out a large hole so that the CD will fit over the door
  handle.   Let your child paint, stamp, etc. their own
  designs to designate their “space”.
  

All the above are courtesy
of “Siren”

Brian Farrugia

Jimmy-Bob Lee

ndahura