The creation process begins with a trip to the record store, where you are likely to find me digging through the dollar bin, giggling to myself as I come across a particularly wacky album cover. Here I turn my focus to finding record covers with great design and typography, popular content, or a high rating on the cheese meter.

Then the careful measuring, cutting and assembly of the boxes begins... This is all done by me, one at a time, with hand tools, to my original design specs. While the glue dries, the record gets one last spin before meeting the knife.

When the gluing is done, the hardware and finishing touches are added. The whole process takes about three days to complete, a bit longer for the LP cases.

The result is a one-of-a-kind item, handmade with heart and soul, from a record that was abused (or loved to death!) and would otherwise be discarded.

Custom orders? You bet! I love making custom CD or record cases! -- There are two ways to go about it: You can send the records to me, or you can choose from the dollar records that I have on hand. See which records I currently have available on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artyfakt/sets/

Here is how each item works:

12-inch LP Case: Requires either 4 single-sleeve LP covers or 2 double-sleeve gatefolds, plus one piece of vinyl. Cost: $225 (or $220 plus the cost of the records).

10-inch Record Case: Requires either 3 single-sleeve LP covers or 2 double-sleeve gatefolds, plus one piece of vinyl. Cost: $135 ( or $130 plus the cost of the records).

7-inch 45 Case: Requires either 2 single-sleeve LP covers or 1 double-sleeve gatefold, plus one piece of vinyl. Cost: $95 ( or $93 plus the cost of the records).

CD Case: Requires 1 single-sleeve LP cover with record. Cost: $85 (or $84 plus the cost of the record).

Once I have the records in hand, I can usually complete the case within a week.