Floppy Disk Crafts (In Case You Liked the Coasters Idea!)

Hi, it’s Jennifer coming at you with some new floppy disk crafts to add to your list of upcycling ideas! Got a stack of these little 3.5 diskettes going back to the 90s- early 00’s taking up space in your closet? Better yet – are some of them in pretty colors – almost too pretty to throw out?

Well just in case you liked the drink coasters idea….here’s more!

==>Pin Image For Later? ❤️️

Turns out I still had some of those 3.5 diskettes hanging around…and a few more fun things you can turn them into.

Materials in addition to the diskettes:

Fishing line, hot glue gun or strong waterproof adhesive, beads, paint

Diskette Desk Caddy

Simple and zen….make a pen or pencil caddy. You’ll need 5 diskettes for this….four for the sides and one for the bottom. Line them up like this (image below) first…apply glue to the side edges and attach them together.

Add glue to the bottom disk and then one by one glue the other disks together in a box shape. Done! (Let it dry first)

I thought about another variation….I wondered if you could turn this into a planter? Only problem I could see is that through periodic watering, it might weaken the seams.

You can add on to your desk caddy by having two disks on the bottom and 7 diskettes on top – 6 going around and one in the middle. Just double the space a little.

Memorex 3.5 – Inch Floppy Disks with File Box Colors, 40-PackColor Scissor Fishing Line, Nylon Strong Monofilament Fishing LineBALABEAD 24000pcs Multicolor Assortment Glass Seed Beads

Disk Picture Hanger

This is a great idea when you’ve got narrow wall space that needs something…..We all have that little skinny space that could use some kind of decoration, but it’s hard to fit a normal – sized picture there without it looking awkward. Here I have lined up five diskettes in a column.

You’ll need about that many, some fishing line, and some adornments – I used beads in between the diskettes to add a little more pizzazz 💾

You’ll be threading the line through each of the four corners of the disk…Look carefully – You should have two little openings already at the top. I have the Memorex brand (they made cute pretty color cassettes too back in the day).

There is a little black tab on the left…I pushed it up and it revealed the opening. But that’s not all…we need to put holes in the bottom, too.

I used my drill and a tiny bit to make holes at the bottom to join the diskettes together. Put a piece of tape on the corners before drilling….hard plastic can shatter or crack. The tape will help prevent this.

Take some fishing line and cut into equal length strands….leave enough slack so there’s at least an inch between each disk. You may want to do like I’m doing here and add something like these beads for fun and embellishment.

Repeat this with each diskette til you get all of them joined together. The bottom one…I added a little bead swag to finish it off, and the top diskette….I joined two strands together into a triangle shape and added more beads before hanging it up.

Add your photos by sliding them into that little metal or plastic thingy that sits on top of each disk (I don’t know what it’s called, sorry – I never was one of those techie types!)

It will mainly hold smaller photos…some of these go way way back to when I was a kid and 3″ by 5″ snapshots were pretty common (my Polaroids were a tad too big) but this size fit perfectly.

 

You can also use this to hold memos, shopping lists….hang it in that little narrow strip of wall (but still easily visible!)

Variation: Make a Floppy Disk Wall Decoration

If you’ve got a lot of these little disks lying around, another fun thing you can do, which will take a similar approach to the above craft, is to create a wall decoration! Repeat the steps above and create several different columns of diskettes in a row. If you have a spare curtain rod, this would be a GREAT way to display all of the hanging rows of diskettes.

Don’t be afraid to get a little wild and funky 💾  mix rows of pink, orange, green, etc., heck, even if you only have basic black disks, you can spray paint them in your preferred colors! I found an article from someone who did just that….(she used all black , spray painted yellow) I guarantee that hanging this above the sofa will become a conversation starter the next time guests come over!

Diskette Clock

Here’s another one definitely worth sharing….use a handful of diskettes to make a wall clock. A big thank you goes to Tim Mallos’ Instructable for this ingenious Geek Chic idea! I really dig clocks so I could see myself doing this too. You’ll need some extra tools in addition, such as craft sticks to give it stability on the back.

Image Attribution: Image by: tmallos

You’ll also need one of those little clock kits that has all the parts included. You could probably remove the labels on them if you wanted, or just keep them on, like this contributor did. Just follow his tutorial and you should be fine.

Well, I hope you enjoyed these additional ideas! Let me know how it goes for you….are there any others I could add to the list?