How to Make Bottle Cap Jewelry

You can make a business out of creating distinct jewelry.

Making jewelry is a wonderful way to take control of the fashion statement you make to the world and earn money doing what you love. With group websites that promote the selling of jewelry and crafts online, there is a chance that you can make a business out of creating distinct jewelry, including bottle-cap jewelry.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Bottle caps
• Chain (gold or silver)
• Nontoxic spray paint
• Acid-free permanent markers
• Glue
• Old magazines
• Scrap paper
• Safety pin

1. Think about what you want to say with your jewelry. You might create a message with peace signs and simple quotes. You could draw hearts, stars or other symbolic shapes on the jewelry. You could make custom-designed bottle caps with people's names and their favorite colors.

2. Draw the designs you want on your bottle caps on paper in pencil; make sure you are drawing it as small as the bottle cap face allows.

3. Look through old magazines and find such images as small CD covers, and cut the images out. Keep in mind that you cannot sell this sort of bottle cap jewelry--it may infringe on copyright laws--but you may enjoy it personally or as a gift. Spray paint it first in the favorite color of the receiver before gluing the image to the bottle cap. Place a hard backing on the cap, and place it on a matching chain.

4. Make birthday-themed bottle caps. Make a series based on astrological signs, on birthstone and on birth flowers. These will be very popular as they have an instant market. Someone is always looking for a special birthday present. Place a hard backing on the cap, and place it on a matching chain. For an added twist, you could make matching earrings or a matching chain bracelet.

5. Design an elegant bottle cap. This can be the color of an emerald or a ruby. It can say something beautifully simplistic. Attach this cap to a jewelry pin or safety pin, and you have a pendant that you wear or sell.

6. Set up an online shop to sell your designs, or take your designs to your local flea market or farmer's market. The latter provides instant feedback, immediate placement of your product before the public and the chance to network locally.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice on a couple of old bottle caps.

• Use your imagination to add even more types of jewelry using your decorative bottle caps.

• Make sure you have a quick turn around time when making custom jewelry. Word-of-mouth is a powerful advertising tool, and you want to exceed the expectations of each customer.

• Make sure any paints used on your bottle caps are nontoxic and safe for long-term exposure to the skin.

• Never make promises you can't keep. Don't promise to make a custom-designed piece of jewelry for someone if you're not sure you are capable of it.