The Bottle Cap Project

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Well, I will start off by saying that this little project has been a LONG time coming!  Sometime within the past year (possibly/probably longer), I noticed a similar project in a facebook "friends" photo album.  A friend that I have never met face-to-face, just through the facebook/Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts "World"! 
I complimented her work and told her we were starting our own collection of tops.  This EXTREMELY KIND & GENEROUS person asked for my address and shipped me a giant gallon ZipLoc bag full of all sorts of cool bottle caps!  My (then) 4-year-old was in heaven - she would sort those things for HOURS! 

At this point, I shared the project with my very handy husband.  He wanted to do a pattern - I wanted to do it random.  We bought a small end-table at a yard sale.  The end-table sat alone on the porch for a few (or more) months.  Our big TV went out so we used the end-table to hold a TV in the living room........you get the picture, right? . . . . . . . .

Yesterday, I decided to work on the project.  I had some pent up anger.  I had been directed on how to do this craft - I thought I would get to use a hammer, finishing nails & needle-nose pliers - my husband said "no". 

This is what we did:

FIRST:

Collect Your Bottle Caps:

While consuming beverages of your choice, you'll need to be considering your table top medium.  Do you wanna go BIG first or start small.  I opted to start small so that I didn't get overwhelmed & freak out. 

The table I did is 14 bottle caps x 14 bottle caps, so 196 caps in all. 

For $3, at a yard sale, this is the table I selected:

You'll have to appreciate the comestic flaws. . . . I think they pair nicely with the bottle caps. 

Plus, a sanding sponge & some spray paint can work some crazy magic!!

You might think the tabletop looks dusty - it's not - it the Commercial Grade Spray Adhesive that my hubby saturated on there before we (my 5-year old & I) started placing the caps.  It created a "sticky" that was just a little heavier than what you'd consider "tacky".  It securely held the caps in place but I could still change my mind if needed.  Maybe you can see the haze of the adhesive better in this picture:

Okay, now that you've seen the adhesive haze - you'll notice the center line.  It's not really necessary.  We learned that the hard way - but it did end up being a good mistake!  We did mark the outside line to install trim the outside edges (trim itself not pictured).

Next you will start placing your caps - working on the outline first, like a puzzle.  You'll have to get the spacing right and then follow your placement accordingly.........

And so on & so forth...........

Until you fill your space:

So, at this point we originally planned to just install the trim, paint & fill with epoxy.  Then I noticed the center line mistake!  When I whined to my wonderful, amazingly handy husband about it he said "no problem, don't worry."  He placed the trim, went out to his "room" came back with a can of satiny/glossy black paint, pulled out a medicine dosing syringe and came to my rescue.  See below:

He started filling each & every space with the pretty black paint.  How perfect is he!?!

And handsome, too ♥ It was oil based paint so I wanted NO part of it.

This is how it looked after fill-in:

Next, the trim is painted:

Now, we are waiting for the inside layer of paint to completely dry.  Once it is dry I will go find & buy the epoxy to fill it with.  I will add that info once I make it to that step. 

For now, me and my Miss K are admiring our work thus far:

And I am off to "the room" to see about that sanding sponge and black spray paint! 

Time to get busy finishing up the base & legs!

TO BE CONTINUED. . . . . .

.........3 WEEKS LATER

Here is the epoxy we bought - we should have bought the BIG BOX

and now it looks like this:

{{PICS COMING SOON}}