What is it exactly?:

If you have a few embarrassing records that you sheepishly hide away and you're low on dishware, this could be the craft for you. It's a dinner set and placemat made from a few old records. Within a minute, you can cook your old vinyl records to create a rocking table setting.

Usefulness factor:

It's a new way to burn music. Not only is it a chic way of weeding out your musical collection, this craft also serves as a rock 'n' roll popcorn bowl.

Get started:

1. The first and most important step is choosing which records to melt. I recommend that you stay out of your own collection. We advise shopping at a thrift store or garage sale and melting someone else's memories. The best idea is to find a record that is scratched up and unlistenable anyway. Smaller records can be made into coasters.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
3. Start by placing the record on top of an upside-down oven-safe bowl. You might want to place the bowl on top of a cookie sheet for easier moving in and out of the oven.
4. Watch the record carefully and bake for 5 minutes.
5. The record should now be flexible, but not too hot to handle. Check this with a quick touch with your fingertip.
A bit of cautionary mom-like advice: The bowl and cookie sheet will get hotter than the record, so make sure you use a potholder when moving them.

Pull the record off the bowl, quickly flip the bowl over and push the record down into it. Manipulate the sides to get it the shape you want.

6. Let the record cool in a larger bowl so the sides will relax a bit. It only takes a couple minutes for the record to get firm. Pull it out of the bowl. If you don't like the shape, you can retry steps 4-6 as many times as you like.
7. Spin some of your surviving music by dusting off your old record player and cranking up some tunes. Get ready for an evening snack using your newly created dinette set.

Placemats

1. If you find yourself left with some good-looking leftover album covers, they make great place mats. All you really need is a a pair of scissors and some creativity.
2. Cut down the record's length and tape it onto an old cardboard pizza box to create a sturdy place mat. Decorate the mat with some old Rolling Stone clippings.

Total cost:

$1.50 for some thrift store records.

Challenge level:

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the Martha Stewart challenge, this is a 2. With minimum effort, you can make this craft in record time - pun intended.

2 stars out of 10

Our thoughts:

This craft puts a new spin on setting the table. It cools very quickly, but you can pop it back in the oven and try again if you don't like the shape. Although it's not exactly dishwasher safe, the Turntableware will last longer than your ever-evolving musical tastes.