Floppy Disk Jewelry Chain Caddy

Turn your old floppy disks and floppy disks case into something useful. This tutorial will walk you through the steps for creating a jewelry chain caddy. This caddy will save you time and reduce clutter. No more tangled messes of chain to sort through, no more chain stored in plastic bags. And for goodness sakes get rid of those outdated and useless floppy disks.

I love to recycle old outdated junk into new and useful items.  This is a really simple project, but I thought I would create a blog for it anyway.  Besides, it's my first blog and I'm just testing things out.  Let me know what you think.

Turn this:

Into this:

I love to make jewelry out of polymer clay (if you have time take a peek at my flickr page).  This is the mess I've been dealing with when I need a little chain for a piece I'm working on.  Ugh!

What you'll need:

1. Several Old Floppy Disks
2. A Pair of Scissors
3. A Floppy Disk Case

Getting Started:

1.  Remove the metal guard from the top of the floppy disk.

2.  Pry the floppy disk open with your fingers.

3.  Once the disk is open, remove the magnetic disc, clip and cloth from the inside of the floppy.

Throw the "guts" away:  

4.  I like to make a template for consistency, but it's certainly not needed.  (If you don't need to use a template skip to step #6)

5.  Trace the template pattern onto your floppy disk case.

6.  Cut out the pattern with a pair of scissors.

7.  Cut a notch into the side of the floppy disk and feed the chain into it.

8.  Wrap your chain around the spool and secure the end of the chain into the same notch or create a new notch if you're using thick chain.

Finished Spool

9.  Put the finished floppies back into the case and you now have a new easily accessible chain caddy.  No more tangled knotted chain to sort through, and no more bags of chain laying around.

Your Finished Caddy!