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Vintage Floppy Disks = Jewelry

We had dozens of floppy disks (they weren’t really floppy – they were 4 x 4 hard disks). I hesitated to throw them away because although we couldn’t get information from them anymore some clever thief might find them in the trash, have a relic of a computer laying around the den and get all kinds of information (none of which we remembered) from the disks. What a dilemma!So – I dismantled each one. When I saw the cool parts I knew I should keep some of them for the unknown future. Hence the jar of metal & plastic tabs and bits of floppy inserts.

I found that the metal & black plastic tabs are thin enough to cut with scissors and the metal can be stamped with metal letter punches (see the “P.U.S.H.” tag below). Depending on the punch you might be able to punch out basic shapes like the ornament, bird, plane & bugs shown below. This metal, to my knowledge, doesn’t rust or discolor with age. If you rub it with steel wool first, it takes alcohol inks

Use caution when you try punch out shapes in the metal with a paper punch. There may be slight variances in the thickness of metals depending on the manufacturer of the disk and your punch could jam. The same goes for the pliability of the plastic.  The ornament punch did fine on the first metal piece I punched but broke on the second one (because I hit it with a hammer). If the punch cuts gradually, at an angle, from back to front (like most of Martha Stewarts) chances are it isn’t a good candidate for this project. The punch cuts thru beautifully at the beginning but loses force as it proceeds forward and the metal gets stuck in the punch (repeatedly I might add). The inside floppy film could easily be punched. Any of these can be blinged to blindness – the possibilities made me dizzy.  You may have a desk drawer FULL of free supplies – go check.


PS: P.U.S.H means Pray Until Something Happens