Hanging Mail Organizer From Records

I found this idea on Pinterest. You can see the original blog post here. I pretty much followed it to a T, except I only used two rivets, mainly because I hate the rivet tool! It takes a lot of arm muscle, which I do not have. I also personalized the record labels. Since this was a gift for my step dad, I used Publisher to print out the names of his past bands and current one. (He and my mom have been playing in a band since I can remember. They play rock music like Metallica, KISS, AC/DC plus newer stuff like Weezer, STP and Foo Fighters. Mom plays bass, step dad plays guitar and sings.)

I'm so sorry I don't have a video or photos to show you these steps. It is easy and difficult at the same time... If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments!

 Items you'll need:

• Records--I got mine from the $.25 bin at our local music store. Make sure you have extras in case you screw up like me. :)
• Rivets and rivet tool--I got mine from Menards, the cheapest ones they had
• Drill bit (and drill) to match the size of your rivets. I believe I used 3/8" but it really doesn't matter (as long as it's not like a 3" rivet, that'd be ridiculous).
• Old T-shirt
• Aligator clamps
• Iron
• If you personalize the record labels like I did, you'll need Mod Podge or glue. I used Mod Podge to help protect the paper from being torn.

To shape the record, I put it in an old T-shirt and then ran my iron (set to the hottest temperature) over the bottom half for quite a while. Once the entire bottom half is flexible, I wrapped it up and over a paper towel cardboard tube. It's important to make sure the record is heated through the center where the label is so you can begin your bend there. That's where you place the cardboard tube, and then you just flop the bottom half over that and hold in place until cooled.

I bent it while it was still inside the T-shirt because I did not have work gloves, and didn't feel like burning my hands. I found this worked fine, but if you have work gloves, by all means you can take the record out of the shirt before bending it over the tube.

To avoid rippling in the record, I tried to hold it as still as possible and only touching the parts that wrap around the tube. Try to make this as smooth and level as possible because you string the records together by adding rivets to the back of the first record and the lip on the second. If there's rippling on the lip that you bent, it may crack when you put the rivet in. (Which I learned the hard way, so please learn from my mistake.)

Also, when you bend the record up to form the lip, it's best to line the top of the lip the center of the label (where the hole is). I found this to be the best way to measure.

Once all the records were shaped and cooled, I began drilling the holes. It really helps to have clamps to hold the two records in place while you drill. I did not have clamps and I wanted to cry. But, as you can see below, it can be done! If you want to be really picky you can use white out or something to line the rivets up evenly on all your records. I just eyeballed it.

As I said above, you place the back of one record to the bent part of the second (as shown in picture above). Once the holes are drilled, the rivets secure the two records together. I pieced together the chain of records one at a time. So I drilled, then put the rivets in. Then I drilled the next record on and put the rivets in.

I added the personalizations at the very end, but if you're not adding those, then you're done! Read no further! I did not add a hanger to the back of it, because you can hang it by a nail through the the top record's hole.

To make my labels, I scanned my step dad and mom's bands' CD booklets into my computer, and used Paint to trim them off--which was a pain in the A. If you've ever used Paint for an actual project you'll understand.

I put their band name into 5.2" circles so they were a tad bit bigger than the original label. I put Mod Podge down on the existing label, and placed my printout on top and smoothed it out. Once it was in place, I added some Mod Podge around the edges to prevent peeling. And then I was done. Thank God, because this was a hard project for me! Worth it, though, since he loved it!