How to Do Bottle Cap Art

Make bottle cap art for decorating household items and creating jewelry.

Bottle cap art is made by applying paper images or decorative papers to recycled bottle caps. These decorative bottle caps are then used as elements in altered art, jewelry, magnets and on home accessories. Because there is a large variety of papers and images available, many different styles of bottle cap art are possible. It is a craft that people of all ages will enjoy and it is not a costly project to complete. While some enjoy recycling used bottle caps, new bottle caps are also available for this craft project.

Things You'll Need

• 1-inch diameter printed images or scrapbook papers
• 1-inch hole punch
• Bottle caps
• Craft glue
• Liquid glaze
• Toothpicks or straight pins
• Pendant bails (optional)
• Jewelry glue (optional)
• Magnets (optional)

Instructions

1. Punch out a 1-inch diameter image or 1-inch diameter circle from the scrapbook paper. Printable images can be found for purchase online at sites such as Etsy (etsy.com) and Artfire (artfire.com).

2. Apply a thin layer of craft glue inside the bottle cap's flat surface. Be careful not to apply too much glue or it will swish out around the paper circle.

3. Press the paper circle onto the glue and let it set for approximately 30 minutes to dry.

4. On a level work surface squeeze a layer of liquid glaze to cover the paper circle. The liquid glaze shrinks up while drying; therefore apply a layer approximately double the thickness you want after drying.

5. Poke any air bubbles with a toothpick or straight pin. Let the glaze set until dry which varies depending on climate conditions. The glaze goes from milky to clear as it dries and will be smooth to the touch when dry.

6. Optional: Glue a pendant bail or magnet to the bottle cap back using a small dot of jewelry glue.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a metal punch tool or hammer and nail to punch a hole in the bottle cap rim if you want to attach a jump ring.

• Make bottle cap art pins by gluing a pin back to the backside of the bottle cap using jewelry glue.

References

• Fast and Fun Bottle Cap Charms
• Etsy
• Artfire