Guitar Picks.

For my 22nd Birthday I was treated to a magnificent gift that turns your old creditcards or any plastic less than 2mm thick into the shape of a guitar pick. With a bit of a sand on the edges its as good as a new one and you can play and make music as if using any other plectrum.

My new pick cutter.

Initially I went over the top, making as many as I could as quickly as I could.
But after the novelty started to wear off I began to think of other uses for it.
I tried out leather but the leather was too thick to fit in the cutter.
I tried out possum skin, it cut the shape out (mostly) but was too soft to use. I thought boiling it might work similar to boiled leather, but the possum just curled up into a useless blob.

Some bought picks and many cut out picks, some leather picks.

Using the shape of a pick to draw around I used a piece of leather and cut it out using a craft knife. Still too soft to use I tried boiling it. It worked somewhat, but warped and shrunk the original shape. My next idea was to boil the leather first, keeping it as one flat piece, and then to cut out the pick shape. This worked well and sounds great as a muted pick when used with an accoustic guitar.

Leather Picks.

Leather pick looks right at home.

This was a nice experiment for a useful item made by plastic and leather, it is an interesting way of recylcing your old cards and leather scraps once more before throwing them out.