Recycling materials and creating unique products out of them is way too fascinating to resist. We have featured some great examples of recycling that uses usual materials but the outcomes are exceptionally beautiful.
Today, we have brought another such example of 'Recycled Album Art Shop' that recycles album art covers to create different kinds of products. The span of products are wide ranging from coaster sets, baskets to gift cards. And the best part is they all are handcrafted. "The recycled album art cover coaster set is is an excellent gift for any of your music loving family or friends. When you purchase one of our sets you will know exactly what album you will receive", describes their website.
The shop is run by Mary McCoy and her hubby. Let's learn more about the couple and their creations in the interview below:
Mary, please introduce yourself to E-junkies.
McCoy Creations is the collaborative effort with my husband Terry. We make a fantastic team. Hubby is a master woodworker, designer and planner. Since childhood I have taken ordinary items and remade them into something unexpected yet useful.
Tell us about your 'Recycled Album Art Shop'. What concept does it use and what all does it offer?
We want to make the shopper's experience more than just reading and looking at pictures of the products in which we created. The majority of our album art products has a video clip of one of the hit songs from the album cover that we used to create the product.
Tell us about the inception of your wonderful shop. When did it form and how did it happen to you?
We conceived the idea during the Summer of 2008. We had been de-cluttering our home after our youngest child entered college. We needed to build another storage building or start dispersing our treasures to others. Hubby had a large collection of vinyl albums that I could not justify moving to another place to be out of the way. Please realize that at first hubby was terrified at selling his collection of albums. But eventually he agreed to part with his treasures. The majority of his collection was sold on one of the major on-line auction sites.
However, we still had around 100 albums that the vinyl was scratched but the album cover was in good condition. The graphics on the majority of the albums from the 60's and 70's were fantastic. Hubby and I spent a number of evenings on our deck brainstorming on what we could do with the albums. An idea was born. I researched high and low on the internet to see if anyone else was selling anything like our idea. Nope, I could not find anything that truly preserved the wonderful graphics found on the album covers. The Recycled Album Art Coasters were conceived. Hubby used his wood crafting skills to work out the details of how to make our idea work.
Why you chose 'Music'? What fascinates you most about 'Music'?
What fascinates me most about 'Music' is the memories attached to a song, album or artist. Hubby absolutely loves to listen to music, it is his way to wash the cares of the day away. We each have fond memories attached to certain songs or groups. When we are working on the different sets it has been quite fun to talk about the 'good old' days. Through our various sales we have had the honor of the buyer sharing their memories of the particular album they are purchasing. Our product started at the beginning of the downturn of the economy. We have had countless stories shared with us on how much the album coaster set helped brighten the holiday. Recently we had a customer write "It helped a unfortunate year end and beginning year to change to a more positive time."
When and what was the first creation by you?
We opened our Etsy shop in August of 2008. One of our first custom creations was completed in September, 2008. We were contacted by a Etsy member that was getting ready to move and wanted to get rid of her stash of 7" and 12" albums. She had one 12" album by the BuzzCocks that she wanted made up as a set of coasters for her fiance. After receiving the very vibrant album I suggested that we use the front cover for wall art and the back cover for the set of coasters. I have posted the pictures for this set on our flickr account. Here is the link to the finished items: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccoycreations/5596257545/.
Which creation is the dearest to you? And why?
So many of the sets turned out to be my favorites. It might be the art work displayed on the album cover. The Pink Floyd, "A Nice Pair" album appeared to be created for our coasters. We have branched out to include laser-disc movies. The Walt Disney Classic "Aladdin" has vibrant blue and gold colors. To top it off, the laser-disc creates a striking silver basket.
I especially enjoy it when customers share their memories with us, whether it is their dad, boyfriend, step-dad, hubby was a member of the band, memories of a brother and sister and one of Herb Alpert's album that had the lady covered in whipped cream (very racy for the time). It has been touching to hear the memories that people have of the music. When the economy took a dive, I'll never forget the stories about how the gift was to a baby boomer that was suddenly no longer working. There was the hope that by giving a gift that reminded them of better times that it would help lessen the blow of being unemployed.
By what process your products go through?
When we were going through our research and development phase, a few of our neighbors enjoyed the entertainment we provided as we tested out the various components of creating the recycled album art coasters, warped vinyl record baskets, warping laser-discs, then how to make handmade paper from the record sleeve scraps.. Every weekend was a new adventure as we tried various methods of applying the finish, finding the perfect temperature to bake vinyl records, laser-discs to taking photographs. We are on the continual hunt for more albums. We are regular shoppers at garage sales, flea markets and auctions. It is not uncommon for a friend to show up at our home with a box of albums that they found.
On our website, Recycled Album Art Shop, we have a slide show that has the highlights of the process.
Here is the link for the page: http://www.recycledalbumart.com/album-art-coaster-sets.html
Here is the link for the page: http://www.recycledalbumart.com/album-art-coaster-sets.html
We use the original album cover to create the 9 unbreakable coasters. Unfortunately, I have found album coasters in which the original album cover had been scanned then printed out for use on the coaster. In my opinion, the beauty of using the original album cover, is when the previous owner had scrawled their name on it or there is some ring wear. Our method gives new life to an item that has outlived it's original purpose. For the coasters, the cover is laminated to a piece of 1/2" thick Baltic birch plywood, then cut in to 3 7/8" by 3 7/8" squares. Hubby does numerous routing and sanding to the coasters prior to the application of four layers of polyurethane, a clear moisture resistant finish. Each coaster has 4 felt pads attached to the underside to protect your furniture.
The actual vinyl record or laser-disc is heat formed and shaped into unique basket. We apply four felt or clear rubber pads to the underside of the basket.
What's your take on E-commerce? How does it encourage artists and business owners like you?
E-Commerce has put the world of buyers looking for unique and handmade items at their fingertips. Even though you lose the personal interaction of face to face selling, we feel through accurate written description and photographs the shopper can observe the quality of our products. E-commerce allows the artist / business owner to have their items available for viewing 24 hours per day, 365 days a year.
What is you vision for 'Recycled Album Art Shop' as a whole?
Our goal is to have our shop grow to the point that it will provide us with a comfortable retirement.. We want to expand our products to include greeting cards, decoupaged bowls, magnets and mini pictures created from the record sleeves and album scraps. Hubby recently designed some guitar silhouettes that I want to decorate using the record sleeve scraps. So many ideas and so little time.
What message do you have for other aspiring business owners?
When you have an idea of something to create or business idea, take the next step and act upon it. We also feel that when you create something it must be of the highest quality. Others may try to duplicate your idea, but you must make your product stand out by the attention to the fine details of your product. It is takes time and devotion to start a product line, but it is worth it in the long run.
Depending on whether you want to sell through an established venue such as Etsy or if you want to spread your wings and have an independent website. Do your homework in selecting your web-host. There is a reason for the selling fees associated with established venues. When you have an independent website, there are many factors that you will be responsible for.
Our little shop has provided us with so many opportunities. Hubby and I are both grateful that we followed through with our idea we had in the summer of 2008. We look back at how we had a library of 100 unplayable albums and laugh as now we have close to two thousand albums in our library of scratched vinyl records.
Well, that's a really valuable advice Mary. Thanks a lot for talking to us. We wish you all the very best!
Rock Radio: http://www.rockradio.co.uk/
1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Garth Johnson's book showcases 1000 projects that were created by reusing materials. There is so much creativity showcased in this book. Keep this book in mind, it would make a fantastic gift for any artist.
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