How to Make a Decorative Bowl Out of a Compact Disc
This project involves an item that almost all of us have around, a compact disc. While this project is a great way to find a new use for old, scratched compact discs you can also use plain, blank cdrws. A spindle of them is fairly inexpensive.
To begin this project, turn your oven on to the low or warm setting (or about 200 degrees). Find a metal bowl that is about the shape you would like your cd bowl to be. Place the bowl in the oven upside down; then place a compact disc on top of the bowl.
Watch carefully and leave the disc in the oven until it is soft and malleable. Make sure to wear protective gloves or thick oven mitts when you handle the cd as it can get quite hot and cause serious burns if you are not prepared.
Once the disc is soft remove it and the metal bowl from the oven. Then you can simply bend the cd into the bowl shape that you desire, use of the metal bowl while heating the disc will have done some of the work for you.
After you have shaped your bowl you may either leave it the way it is with the shiny, silver cd color or you may decorate it with paint. If you choose to paint it I suggest that you wait until the disc has completely cooled and then spray paint it with the color paint of your choice.
To seal the opening in the bottom of the bowl, choose any flat surface such as a dish or thin piece of plywood and glue the bowl to it. I recommend that you use super glue or pvc glue; a hot glue gun will not have favorable results. If you would like you may also decorate the base of the bowl for added artistic flair. If you choose to decorate the base I suggest that you paint it before attaching it to the cd bowl.
Now you have a unique decorative bowl for holding everything from keys to potpourri. The only thing the bowl will not be suitable to hold is food.
