6 creative uses for the obsolete floppy disk

Do you remember the days when it took about 10 floppy disks to install Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on your PC? Now that floppy disks are entirely a thing of the past, with CDs quickly going the same way, people are constantly coming up with creative and innovative uses for all those floppy disks lying around.

Recycling your old gadgets, and turning them into something entirely new is a great way to pay homage to a gadget or technology that was a significant part of your life. And it looks pretty cool – most of the time.

We’ve put together a list of creative, odd and striking ways that obsolete technology is being used today in art, fashion, decor and more.

Stationery

The most obvious use for floppy disks is to create a nifty little notebook for jotting down your geeky thoughts, and while you’re at it you can also stick your pens and pencils in a cool floppy disk pen holder.

On the road

It you want to turn someone’s head with your fancy ride, you don’t have to shell out a ton of cash to buy a flashy sports car or even spend a ton pimping out your ride. If you have a ton of old floppy disks lying around, you could just glue them to the body of your car, and voila. You’ve got yourself a one of a kind card that’s certain to turn heads. Although not always for the right reasons.

Art

We’ve already shown you examples of how floppy disks can be used to create a stunning, thought provoking series of works of art. While Nick Gentry’s project was extremely elaborate, if you want to create some of your own floppy disk art, there’s one pretty easy poster you can create that will definitely appeal to your geeky side. Using a series of black and white floppy disks, you can easily create a Space Invaders tribute on your wall, in the ultimate marriage of two geekified elements.

Home Decor

Floppy disks can also make it into your home decor as a cool wall clock or even a planter. Without doing anything to them at all, floppy disks can also make pretty handy mug coasters.

Geek Fashion

And for some geek chic, you can take your floppy disks with you on the go, as a bag, or you can even use just part of the floppy disk for a pair of cool earrings.

There are several cool varieties on the floppy disk bag –  you can take advantage of the colourful array of disks you might have lying around, or the number of disks you have to go for a different size or shape.

Musical Instrument

We’ve already shown you how one person created his own rendition of Phantom of the Opera (or as he so aptly called it Phantom of the Floppera) using nothing more than the sounds that floppy disks make. You can turn a stack of floppy disks into a musical instrument of sorts. The sound made when you string a bunch of floppy disks together can emulate the sound of a Japanese instrument called the kokiriko, as you can see in the video below.

Have you come across any interesting and creative uses for the floppy disk? Let us know about them in the comments.