Saturday, September 3, 2011

Computer bits!

Who knew all the fun you could have with an old, dead computer?! When my old laptop died I figured I'd keep it since I saw all sorts of fun stuff people were doing on Etsy with computer parts and I wanted to see what I could do. After a year of storing the thing, I finally got around to taking it apart. Let me tell you, it's more difficult than you think - it's almost like they don't *want* you do take it apart...But, totally worth it!

So far I've only made things with the small bits. For the bigger bits (motherboard, bigger circuit boards, etc) I'm still trying to figure out something that won't just look like "Hey! Look! I glued a motherboard to a notebook!" Also, I'm trying to figure out how to safely cut those pieces apart. I would like to avoid toxic fumes and flying projectile...but hey, that's just me.

So, what can you make with computer bits? Well, here's what I've come up with so far. And now that I've started, I really want about 5 more computers to take apart. It's a disease...

(I will say, the colors are much more vibrant in real life. It's rainy here so getting good lighting is a bit challenging).

For these first pictures, I altered some dominoes with the computer pieces. I haven't decided if they're going to be necklaces, magnets or keychains yet.




Then I thought to myself "Hey! What about bottlecap magnets?"




Then I thought "Sweet Jesus there are a lot of screws in here! What should I do with them??"





Kinda makes you all happy looking at them all together, doesn't it?

When I got tired of making those, I moved on to a notebook. I took an old pair of jeans and covered the notebook with them, then used the computer fan and some extra wires. And of course the fan still spins!