Are you a fan of fans? I am!
I’m especially a fan now that I’ve hit this delightful new season of life when my internal heater kicks on and I have no control over the thermostat (also known as the dreaded hot flash).
I make these handheld fans and sell them at Black Dog Salvage and my favorite local antique mall, Bell Treasures.
The idea to make these fans came to me on a Goodwill hunt a few years ago. Here’s how it happened…
I was visiting my first Goodwill Outlet in Roanoke, Virginia and stopped dead in my tracks. There was an entire wall full of record albums and a sign above that read, “Records $.25 each.” I was all in.
For the next hour I rummaged through hundreds of record albums of obscure little bands I’d never heard of before. And, oh my goodness – the album covers were priceless. There were gospel choirs posed in front of the church bus; families in matching pantsuits smiling around Dad at the piano; and bluegrass bands in bib overalls with banjos, (say that ten times fast).
Without reason, I started picking out the weirdest album covers and making a pile on the floor. Soon I had a good stack at my feet but had no idea what I would do with them.
As luck would have it, a hot flash hit me hard and fast,
followed by the light bulb moment when I started fanning myself with the record album in my hand.
And the rest is history.
Other ways to repurpose record albums…
I’ve seen records re-purposed into clocks, melted to make bowls and cut to make earrings. There are so many neat ideas to get your wheels turning on Pinterest.
My friend Joe makes coasters from the record labels in the center. He carefully cuts out the circle, smooths the rough edges and glues cork to the back of it (isn’t Joe a genius?).
And for the record (hehe), you should NEVER destroy popular or valuable record albums, because that’s just wrong.
How about you? Have you figured out a neat way to re-purpose old records? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Thanks for visiting. Here’s another Whimsybop post you might enjoy!
