Make Mosaic Pieces Out of Old Cds

This craft recycles old cds to be re-purposed for cool jewelry pieces or mosaic pieces.

Supplies needed:

• cds you are willing to destroy
• scissors
• paints (colors of your choice)
• paint brush
• ruler or anything straight to help you draw a straight line
• pan that you can lay a sheet of foil down to bake your painted pieces
• permanent marker to draw a grid on the cd to cut mostly even pieces
• masking tape (to pull off the old cd label)

First you are going to lay out your cd. Take your scissors and scratch the top to get the label to start peeling off.

Then cut a decent size piece of masking tape off the roll, and apply it to the top of the cd. Then peel away. The label will come right off. Continue this process until the cd is completely see through (you will just throw the masking tape with label stuck to it away).

Next, take your permanent marker and draw a grid so that you will have mostly even pieces for each cd. 

←Now, take your scissors and start cutting out the square pieces. You are going to have some straggler pieces that don’t quite make a square shape. Personally, I just save all these and use them to glue on other projects as “clear” cd mosaic pieces. →

Next you will get out your paints, and pick up a square and brush one side of one square. Then, take another cut out square and put it on top of the one you just painted so that it is now a sandwiched piece with the paint in the middle.

Repeat this step until all of your pieces are painted and sandwiched in between another square cd cutout.  As you can see, my first batch of squares are all kinds of different colors. →

Almost there!

Once you have all your pieces painted and sandwiched, you are going to lay them out (does not matter which side is up) on your aluminum foil on your pan to cook in the oven at 425 degrees for about twenty minutes. Keep an eye on them for your first couple of batches until you get it down. Once you see them bubble a bit, you know they are done!

Final tips:

If the initial squares are not the same size then you will have to trim a little bit, but it is really easy if you do it right after you take them out of the oven. The picture below is post-trim. 

What to do with the final product:

Take them out of the oven, let them cool down, and you can use these beauties in your jewelry making (they look like glass pieces, so cool), or use them for a mosaic.

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