I’m kicking myself in the environmental again, this time with a huge problem with the fact that most local recycling facilities can’t recycle caps. Check out these pictures, where the good folks at Surfrider.org collected 4,000 cap bottles in under 3 hours in New Jersey. Only the thinking cap matters little.
If you were like me, you probably just threw them in the recycling bin and decided to let someone else see it. Even before that. In Japan, they are breaking em down and making them in another, while we wait for the US to catch up, check out these cool links to mock up projects. NOTE: Aveda has announced that the caps are recyclable. More info here.
One artist named Michelle Stitzlein couldn’t help but look around. She has been creating amazing plastic-bottle plastic bottle for a long time. Herbottle cap series of art that range from these LOLLIPOP FLOWERS to RANGENS garden art like butterflies made from a plastic cap. His work is featured all over the place, and he also has a book out called “Bottlecap Little Bottlecap” who has some cute kiddie projects, find out more on his website.
Let’s say you don’t have that kind of talent and you want to start small, what a great way to keep the kids busy! Dads, how great is it with your kids–pick up the hats to spend time doing a quality project together! ART AND SCHOOL TEACHERS Put this on your resume!
LIGHT / BEGINNER:
1) Magnets from bottle caps. Use your imagination and visit this link from allfreecrafts.com that shows your kids how to make adorable magnets. Just make sure to keep your kids coloring hatted than to complete these cool holiday gifts or gift crafts. Make red hearts for Valentine’s Day, shamrocks for St. Patty’s Day, yellow bunnies for Easter and green ones. trees for Christmas!
2) My absolute favorite item is this bucket hat listed in the August 2008 Kiddley.com archives.
3) How about some cool art wall, at least that’s what they do at RecycleThis in the UK. Check out this awesome thing.
MEDIUM:
4) Try these lovely quilts by Jen Segret, on Craftstylish.com. In great gift ideas for teachers.
5) Make a plastic bottle cap filled with cold canteen collars. Items such as this butter necklace or this necklace are all the rage on Etsy, with necklaces at a cool $7-$15 a pop. To make necklaces like this, all you need is a few plastic bottle caps, jump rings to mount the cap and turn in a pendant, toothpick, puller or dremmel tool with a small and minutely sharp point. inside the cap, and the Do-it-Yourself Resin Kit from craft store. By digging holes with your drill or dremmel in the top of the cap you can attach your jump ring to the top of the cap. (The resin infused inside will further seal the jump ring to the inside of the cap.) Make sure to fill the cap with only the stuff and follow the directions on the resin. The resin can be hard to work with, and make sure to dig out the air bubbles with a toothpick. Once dry, hang up. If you don’t like drilling holes in the bottle cap, you can choose the option to superglue your jump ring to the back when complete.
6) Check out these super cool lamps you can make with this recipe on Keetsa. I also saw that the lights were made like this with this RACING disk group that was from the DivingMeet blogspot. The only concern about this is to find the right glue to stick the caps of the bottle caps to the plastic ball (found an old lamp hanging from a thyme or in Flea market. ) The gluten must not be flammable, because it becomes resistant to high heat.
7) Artist Kitty G shares how to make a large bottle flower cap that you can make with metal and plastic or use the same idea for any plastic flower. .
DIFFICULT/ADVOCACY:
8) bottle cap bag or purse or
9) A cool looking stool, as well as diagrams are available for free on eep! I plan. They are written in Greek, although the pictures are quite easy to follow!
10) The bottle cap tree decorates Kitty G’s backyard, which was made for the Burning Man project….. Or maybe this is not important as the children started early……. . . . . .
Whatever you do, have funcreating projects and do your part to keep hats out of the landfill. Keep it green and keep it real.
