VMP Magazine

Have you ever spent a wallet’s worth of cash at the pet store, carefully hand-curating a batch of toys that you think your cat will love, only to have her reject them for the crinkled receipt? Of course you have! Despite having a beautiful scratching post all to herself, the cat is always going to ravage the corner of the couch when she’s compelled to unsheathe her claws. Or the coffee table. Or the mattress. You’re just the helpless human witnessing the path of her kitty destruction.

Until she goes after the record collection.

Used record sales are soaring. Whilst the demand grows at a rapid pace, the supply is inevitably dwindling. Records are being found, cleaned and stored, sometimes never to be seen again. Safe and snug in its polythene sleeve, the record sits on a proud owner’s shelf. It has been taken from the wild and will never be yours. Consequently, great records in even better condition are demanding a premium. This is a sentiment that fills all collectors with dread. However, there is hope.

How often do we find a record we want, but with a sleeve in poor condition? The record itself is usually great, with the sleeve taking the brunt of the damage. Often we walk away, with tears in our eyes. How could someone be so careless? Truth be told, yesterday’s collectors are not to blame. Vinyl was never the precious commodity it is now. Think of how we have treated CD’s; that was yesterday’s vinyl.

To help numb future pain, here is a guide of how to best fix up the used and abused sleeves that await you. Hopefully, this guide will help you think twice before walking away from a sleeve that looks beyond repair, or help you turn that very good plus in to something excellent.

What better way to display awesome concert memories and music ephemera than with a record album scrapbook and coordinating notebook? The oversized album covers are a near-perfect fit for standard scrapbooking pages, while the notebook is small enough to carry in a purse or a backpack, but sturdy enough to withstand the mosh pit.

Alright, you’ve followed through on that New Year’s resolution and finally got that record collection perfectly alphabetized. It’s time to slide in some record dividers so you know where R ends and S begins. Sure, if you’re handy enough, you could follow this tutorial for DIY wooden dividers, but you may not be all that handy (me), and you don’t have a saw and honestly don’t think you’re responsible enough to own one (also me). If you’ve got anywhere from $100-$350 dollars to spare, you could score a set of aesthetically pleasing dividers on sites like Etsy, but wouldn’t you rather spend that cash on more records? If you’re looking for a route that’s a whole lot cheaper, simpler and that allows you way more creative freedom, here’s a tutorial for making collaged plastic record dividers.

By Libby Cudmore We all know the heartbreak. Your favorite concert tee gets saggier and saggier every time you wear it, translucent, moth-eate...