Recasing is a very important aspect of Circuit Bending. Olaf Ladousse a musician and an artist from Spain seems to have a great knack for it. His amazing website and flickr set was linked to me by a reader and just about made my jaw drop when I saw all those things. Bravo!
http://www.papelcontinuo.net/
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/papelcontinuo/sets/953565/
A lot of the sound toys don’t have to do much besides look really cool. In Ghazala’s book there are a few pages dedicated strictly to conveying the point that household objects can be used as shells for noise makers. The finished instrument is bound draw oohs and aahs by its sheer looks alone as well as rake in mucho dinero on eBay. Objects such as wooden salad bowls can be flipped upside down creating domes, old telephones and intercoms can look like vintage communicators, adding machines or stenographs are often gutted and rewired. Last but not least there is tupperware which is a quick and easy case for just about anything.
The hardest part involved with recasing is usually the ability to pick things out of the ordinary and envision them as something new. This skill however seems to come very naturally to Olaf whom I assume studied art and design somewhere. For those of us who are design challenged, including me, there are many links to draw inspiration and imitation from, this happens to be one of those. Thanks Karramarro.