In his new book, 62 Projects to Make With a Dead Computer, BFA DT alum Randy Sarafan offers a slew of inventive ways to breathe new life into gadgets ditched as goners into the digital graveyard. Give your old computers, scanners, printers, phones etc., a chance to be reincarnated as perhaps an iMac Terrarium, a laptop Digital Photo Frame, or if you’re partial to the 80’s, a Walkman Soap Dish. It’s arts & crafts for a new eco-friendly, tech-savvy generation.

Each project has complete, step-by-step instructions, is rated by difficulty—in a thorough first chapter the author covers all the tools and skills needed to take apart electronics safely—and is arranged by use, from stuff for the house, to fashion, toys, arts and crafts, items for pets, and more. Check the blog for behind the scenes info about how he made it all happen.

Randy Sarafan is a new-media artist who is currently a Virtual Fellow with the cutting-edge F.A.T. (Free Art and Technology) Lab; is a top project contributor and community manager at Instructables.com, the leading user-generated how-to website; has contributed to Make magazine; and creates projects with a unique style and an eye for fun (a breathalyzer microphone, water-gun alarm clock, USB-enabled fruit). He graduated with honors in the Design Technology program at Parsons School of Design and lives in San Francisco.

Congrats Randy! And keep us posted on all your upcoming projects.