Want to make fun projects using the caps of beer and soft drink bottles? Here are some cool and quick ideas.
Materials needed: Coloured bottle caps, paper cutter, scissors, rope, twine, thick wire, glue gun, glitter, and acrylic paints.
Frame art
Bengaluru-based Geetha Chandra, a sustainability advocate and craft hobbyist, says making frames out of bottle caps is the easiest. “Flowers are easy to make. Many soft drinks have blue and red plastic caps, which can be used to show the sky or place them in a way to replicate petals of flowers,” she says.
When working with caps, make sure you apply a thick coat of glue on the rim, so that it holds on to the frame. “Use green caps for leaves or to create grasslands. You can slice the caps into pieces and use it for minute details,” she adds.
One can also use bottle caps and stick them on the frames to brighten them up, if you have no specific artwork design in mind, Geetha adds.
Miniature figures
It is easy to create miniature figures, installations, or fun showpieces from beer bottle caps. “Place these on a TV stand or on an open book stand. Use pliers to open up the caps and stretch them out according to your design,” says Deepak K, a craft hobbyist from Coimbatore.
To depict a school or office scene, drill small holes via a compass or drill into the stretched out caps. “Pass thick wire through the holes and wind them together to make them look like hands and legs. Fix the wire into small clay pieces and let it dry,” he says.
Windchimes
Even if the caps are twisted or stretched out, collect and clean them, and drill holes into them. “Pass a twine through them in the centre and hang them. Or stick two of them together with the twine in between and hang them,” Deepak says.
You can paint the caps with acrylic colours or spray them with metallic colours. “Thread them together and add in as many pieces as possible, so that sound is created when wind passes through,” he says. Remember to create a strong base like a wooden or a thick plastic lid.
Tabletop
You can create a tabletop design easily using different beer bottle caps. Deepak worked on such a design for a children’s room and created a Captain America shield design on a table. “Choose the right colours and ensure that you have the right number of caps. Remember to sand the table a bit so that the caps remain in position after sticking them,” he says.
It is best to work on a table with a plain top — one that has clear embossed sides. “After laying out the design, you can pour resin over the top to seal it and give it a finished look, and place a glass over it,” he adds.
Game cards
You can paint these to create your own home board game. “Sand the edges and smoothen them out, or use a tape to bind the edges. You can also colour the caps in different shades for each player,” says Geetha.