Do you ever find yourself in the position of having a million bottle caps lying around? Maybe you’ve saved them as mementos of interesting brews you tried, maybe they’ve hidden themselves behind the coffee maker as reminders of your last party, or maybe you’ve kept them with the vague sense that they might be useful for something. Whatever your reason, if you have a large number of bottle caps lying around, here are some great ideas for ways to upcycle them into creative, decorative crafts for your self and your home!
1. Bottle cap jewelry
There are so many ways to make bottle cap jewelry. One of the most attractive is to make resin-filled caps, which can then be used to make pendants, earrings, etc. To make resin-filled caps, start with something cool that you want to put inside the bottle cap. It could be a picture, a sticker, a favorite phrase, or you could get interesting texturally and put in beads, safety pins, pennies, whatever your heart desires. Mix up your resin, pour it into your bottle cap that you’ve filled with decorations, and let it sit overnight. Your personalized design is now ready to wear!
2. Bottle Cap Coasters
Cover each bottle cap with a small piece of fabric by stitching around the fabric’s edges to make a pouch and then putting the bottle cap inside. Tighten up the pouch and finish the edges underneath the hollow side. Make several of these fabric-covered bottle caps, then sew them together in circles or squares to make coasters or trivets. If you like, you can back your coasters with felt, or leave them as-is. Up to you!
3. Scrapbook embellishments
First, flatten your bottle cap—it’s easy, just place your bottle cap on a hard surface, top side up, and hit it a few times with a rubber or wooden mallet (obviously, you don’t want to do this on any surface that you’re worried about being scratched). Flip it over, hit it again, and you now have a nice flat surface with a cute ruffled edge that you can decorate with paper cutouts of letters or pictures. Cover with a thin layer of resin (see jewelry making above) to hold it all in place. Then use the flattened, decorated caps to add interest and texture to your scrapbook page.
4. Decorated Mirror/Picture Frame
For this project, you need a mirror with a plain frame, or a plain picture frame (remember, thrift stores are your friends for these kinds of things). You can then use a hot glue gun or other strong glue to attach the bottle caps to the frame in any pattern you like. You can use regular, unembellished bottle caps, or resin-filled ones as described above—even fabric covered or flattened bottle caps will work for this project. Let your creativity run wild!
5. Rehabilitated furniture
This project is labor-intensive, but ultimately worth it. If you have an old, beat-up table or desk, one that needs some TLC, you can turn it into a gorgeous conversation piece to show off to your friends. First, strip off any old paint or varnish and sand it down to prepare your work surface. Paint or stain the wood to whatever color you want, and let it dry. Then comes the fun part. Take your collection of bottle caps, and use it to cover the surface of your table. If you have enough, you can do the sides and legs as well (though these areas are much harder to finish). Once the glue is dry, cover the newly-bottle-capped surface with resin to create a smooth and even surface. Voila!
Diana Carlton is a writer for Micro Matic, a leader in draft beer dispensing technology. From homebrew dispensing equipment to large-scale commercial installations, Micro Matic supplies the highest quality draft beer equipment for maximum reliability and taste. Visit the Micro Matic website for all your draft beer accessory needs including keg couplers, tap handles and CO2 tanks.
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