Editor’s note: This project is meant for reproducing your own work or work in the public domain. It is not meant to be used for illegal duplication. Support your favorite artists by buying their records! And if you’re in the UK, you can catch Jess on tour.

Setting the needle and hearing your song play out over the hi-fi speakers is usually a thrill reserved for only those with a few quid to spend on a factory pressing of their latest release on vinyl.
I spent a year experimenting with colorful “mock vinyl” and picture-disks that I made at home in my spare room and wrote a blog post about my experiences over on my website. Here’s a video of one of my homemade records in action:Below is a basic step-by-step for making records at home that will play on a turntable with plenty of delightful quirks and crackles. This will not cost the earth, and all you need to get started is one record.
1. Dub Plate
This method of making records is effectively a way of “cloning” records — so you will need a starting point to work from. It needs to be something that is inexpensive to get a hold of and you will not worry about messing up. Plenty of places now will cut you a one-sided 7″ dub-plate with your song on it for anywhere between 10 and 20 quid. A dub-plate is a type of acetate disk that has its grooves cut in real-time from a lathe (as opposed to stamp-pressed), like regular vinyl records. Pick a song that will be complemented by a bit of scratch and tremolo and see if you can get a nice loud master. It all helps.
2. Make a Mould

Making the mould is the most crucial part of the cloning process. Once you have a decent mould, you will be able to cast a whole run of records from it. Your mould is your friend, so look after your mould. Protect it from scratches, creases, and dings. Be sure to cover it from dust when it is not being used. It will wear out eventually, as resin itself is quite a harsh little substance, but one good mould should give you plenty of records before you need to retire it.
You will need a tray to form the base of the mould. Make it as close to the size of the 7″ as possible and make sure it is not more than 2cm deep. You will be filling it up with silicone and you will waste a lot if your tray is too big. You can use brown parcel tape or sticky tack to block out or partition off a section of a bigger tray if it is all you can find. Use double-sided sticky tape on the non-grooved side of the record to secure it in the centre of the tray with the grooves facing up. Tear off and use plenty of tape so that the silicone does not seep underneath. The dub-plate should sit securely in your tray with the grooves-side facing up.

3. Texture
The grooves themselves need to be left alone, but you can build up texture on the area in the middle of the record where the label would be to make it look interesting. Take some plumber’s aluminum tape, and draw on it and press it for a couple of American coin designs. Use a Dymo label maker for text and pretty much anything you can secure in place with double-sided tape.

I also had interesting results from using paint, PVA glue, string, and a paste made from flour and water (for building texture). If you would rather get stuck into color or…
The post How to Cast Your Own Vinyl Records appeared first on FeedBox.