Believe it or not, you can create little bowls out of CDs. Make sure you do this craft in a well-ventilated area. Any children working on this project should be closely supervised. I would suggest having the adult deal with the heating of the CD and let any children be involved with decorating the cooled CD bowls.

• Age Guideline: 8 Years and Up
• Time Required: 15 minutes (Does not include drying time)

The above age and time guidelines are estimates. This project can be modified to suit other ages and may take more or less time depending on your circumstances.

 

Materials Needed:

• Unwanted CD
• Aluminum Foil
• Cookie Sheet
• Items to Embellish (optional)

Instructions:
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil. Use more foil to make a small ball which will serve as the mold for your bowl. This can be just about any size or shape you like, depending on the shape you want your finished bowl to be. The main thing you should keep in mind is that when the CD starts to soften and melt, the edges will gently fold over and you do not want the edges to touch the cookie sheet surface. A good size to start with may be a foil ball 2-inches wide by 3-inches high; this should give you a nice sized bowl with fluted edges. Every bowl will be different though so plan on experimenting!

When you get the foil 'ball' to the desired shape and size, place it on the foil-lined cookie sheet; then, place a CD on top of the ball.

Whatever side of the CD is facing the ball will be the inside of the bowl. Carefully slide the cookie sheet in the oven and watch it closely. It may take as much as 10 minutes for the CD to soften and fold down around the foil ball. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven when the bowl is shaped how you want it. You can use an oven mitt to try to further shape the warm CD if you like. Allow the CD to cool and harden.

Once cool, the bowl can be removed from the foil ball and used or embellished as desired. You can paint it to cover the label and then spray it with clear acrylic sealer. You can use a circle cut from craft foam or felt to cover the hole in the bottom of the bowl by gluing it either on the inside or outside of the bowl. You can also embellish the bowl with plastic gems, beads, etc. Experiment and have fun with lots of different depths, widths, and shapes.