Do you still have some old floppy disks floating around? If you do, you could have some fun making jewelry with the recycled parts. I took apart some floppy disks we finally decided to toss and saved the metal tops and the round disks found in the middle. I wasn't sure how I'd use them, but knew that sometime I would make either jewelry or sculpture with them. Isn't that what a typical pack rat artist would say? Meanwhile I needed to recondition a LOT of old polymer clay for the Lindly Hanani workshop coming to my guild. The recycled scrap clay looked so beautiful, (doesn't it always) that I had to divert from the conditioning task and make a couple bracelets to celebrate Earth Day. Here are the basics.
Taking apart the floppy is easy. The challenge comes when you try to drill holes in each metal disk to attach them together. I would recommend a very small drill bit, 1/16 or finer. You could also put wire through the center hole to the back and string them together that way.
Roll out the clay on the pasta machine at the thickest setting. Cut with a circle cutter about the same size as the disk or a little smaller. You can always flatten it out to fit. Push the clay into the metal disks. Bake. After the disks are cool, remove the clay, and spread some glue on the back side.
Reposition the clay on the metal disk and let dry. Add jump rings to connect the disks together and add a clasp. You can see I used magnets for one, and wire for the other. Have fun!
