gigi

Bottlecaps, a tutorial: part three

This is the final installment on making your own bottlecaps and turning them into pendants!

Here's a quick before/after with the degas trick (see previous post):

 

With bubbles above; after you've blown warm air on it like you're trying to fog up a window, below:

  

Here's a before/after of a sealed cap:

 

The left one is unsealed; the right one is sealed. Nice, eh?

And on to the final steps! Get that punch I mentioned in the first installment. Place it at the edge of your bottlecap, and punch a hole:

 

Should now look like this:

Use OVAL jump rings (or regular split rings) to turn the cap into a pendant. I love oval jump rings -- they are simple to open, attach, and shut. Neither the bottle cap nor the necklace rests at the opening and therefore neither will detach from the other!

To open any jump ring, pull one end toward you (sideways) so it splits like in the picture below.

 

Slip it through the hole in the cap and VOILA! you have a pendant!

 

  

I have lots of bottle cap pendants on ball chains listed in my dizzlePOP! etsy shop; here's one of my favs:

 

I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial! Feel free to link to it!

~gigi

Bottlecaps, a tutorial: part one

  Here we go on the quest for gorgeous bottlecaps -- use them in jewelry or on bows, or as fridge magnets!

You will need some supplies, of course:

• Envirotex Lite (high gloss seal) -- see picture below
• 1/16" punch -- see picture below -- by Fiskars, available at Joann
  
• wax paper (for underneath your caps)
• rubbing alcohol to clean up (wish I'd known this a long time ago!)
• bottlecaps
• 1" round images, or stickers
• oval jump rings or round split rings if you're making necklaces

The punch:

   

The seal:

 

Blank bottlecaps can be found at your local scrapbook supply shop, or of course online.

I often use a 1" round sticker (again from the scrapbook shop/department) such as the ones pictured here, and then attach it centered onto the cap.

 
 

     

More tomorrow -- or maybe later today! I have a large wholesale order of cozies to finish sewing and ship today!

~gigi