Bottlecap Brooches - TUTORIAL & my first post!

[CraftyMouse]

EDIT:  Hey everyone, sorry...I ran out of bandwidth for the month of June!  But here's a link to see the brooches:
** http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v299/brooches/  **
We're slotted to hop on the Greyhound tomorrow
and we're trying to raise some more last minute funds to
pay for the tickets!  We're almost there!
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  hey hey...this is my first tutorial & first thread, so let's see how you guys like my craftiness!

My boyfriend and I are making bottlecap brooches and other reconstructed wares to help fund our summer trip around the U.S.! 
(small plug) It's going to be a Summer of Service where we wwoof, volunteer at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, churches, camps,
and pretty much anywhere else that needs us. 

Ok, so here's your promised tute:


Get yourself some groovy USED bottlecaps from a bar, laying around the outside of a hotel, by the pool, or from your kitchen.  Wash them with soap or your're gonna reek of alkeyhal. 


Take some primer and spray a nice grey (or white) coat on your bottlecaps.


Use any kind of acrylic or interior/exterior paint your heart so desires and make your bottlecaps cheery!


Print out words & pictures or cut things out of mags & books (be creative!)


Modge podge or mix a little white glue with water and stick those words and pics to the caps!


After it's all dry, put a final coat to protect those babies from scratches!  Clear coat is CHEEEEAP at Wally World!


Super glue or e6000 some flat pinbacks to the other side.

After lots of drying time, make up some packaging and voila!


So, go make your own!


Much luff and craftiness!~Nina

[SarahFroggy]

those look really fun to make. might have to whip up a few.

[craftpunk]

How do you handle bent bottlecaps?  I rarely drink screwtop beer, so all my caps are bent in half.  Do you hammer them down, or just hold out for undamaged ones?

[CraftyMouse]

How do you handle bent bottlecaps?  I rarely drink screwtop beer, so all my caps are bent in half.  Do you hammer them down, or just hold out for undamaged ones?

Well, I used a hammer and the blunt end of a screwdriver to hammer it flat again.  But even if it's not completely flat, it doesn't harm the look nor the functionality of the pin.  Personally, I like the ones that are a little bit dented.  It shows that they're really reclaimed stuff!
p.s. a bunch of ours are dented, too...but you can't really tell.

when you finish yours, be sure to post and let me know if you wanna trade!

[craftpunk]

I couldn't resist, I went and bought a 6 pack of screwtop beer after reading this.

I also picked up a bunch of caps from the street. 

Now, with the pin backs, do they stick out enough past the bottle cap to make putting them on easy?  I guess it depends on the size of the cap, I'm thinking I may have to add some cardboard under the pins. 

[CraftyMouse]

Now, with the pin backs, do they stick out enough past the bottle cap to make putting them on easy?

I haven't had too much trouble with them at all and to my knowledge, they're all pretty uniform in depth.  If you get the smaller (MAKE SURE THEY'RE SMALLER because I bought the 1-inch diameter pin backs and they don't fit) pin backs...I think they're 3/4 inchers then you can reach right in the bottlecap and unhook em.  Shouldn't be a problem at all.  I wonder if putting cardboard in there would make the backs more likely to come off...?
goodluck!

[craftpunk]

Well, if you're using E600, it's unlikely to come off. 

One of the caps I picked up was from a malt liquor bottle, and it's much deeper than the beer caps, that's why I was considering adding a buffer. 

[ph33lth3lov3]

those are awesome! they also seem a great alternative to the $500 button machine i dream about...  I must try them!

[jinxya26]

I love these and I can't wait to try to make one!

[ubiquitouspixie]

To the person who made the comment about a $500 button making machine...I bought the one inch one for under $200 from this guy

http://stores.ebay.com/Button-Supplies-and-General-Store_W0QQsspagenameZL2QQtZkm 

on ebay and it's GREAT.  Very professional looking buttons, all metal, etc...I also buy supplies from him as well.  The buttons come out to costing less the 5 cents to make (that's not including the cost of the machine though). 
Ally