Tutorial: Bottlecap Magnets

A few years ago, I whipped up these magnets as a last minute Christmas gift for my Dad. (The jewel of this collection is the cap from a special edition aluminum Mountain Dew Bottle). I used an old Altoids mint tin covered with some scrapbook paper as the gift box. Since then, I've started making them to sell at craft shows as a small, inexpensive, impulse-buy item.

To make your own, all you need is:

• hot glue gun & hot glue
• small magnets/"button magnets" (you can find these at most craft stores, but I get mine in the kids' craft section of Wal-Mart for about $5-$6 for 50 magnets)
• bottlecaps (don't forget to wash them!)

Step 1:

First, you'll need to fill the bottom of the cap with a layer of hot glue. (This step is important because the button magnets aren't tall/thick enough to stick up over the edge of the bottlecap.) A good strategy is to You'll need to wait for the first layer to dry before moving on to step 2. I usually make these in batches, so I'll do the first glue layer on about 6 bottlecaps, and by the time I'm done with Step 1 on the 6th cap, the glue on the 1st cap is dry and ready for Step 2.

Step 2:

Apply another layer of hot glue (not too much!) and press the magnet in. Let it dry.

And voila!...Bottlecap Magnets!

So save those bottlecaps! I have all of my friends trained to save theirs (and to be careful when removing the pry-off type of caps). Other places to get bottlecaps are restaurants, bars, and specialty beer stores. Some places will save them for you if you ask nicely!

I drive my husband a little crazy whenever we go to the beer shop now...since, even though I don't like beer, I want him to buy beer based on "this one has a cool bottlecap design!"

These are 2 of my favorite caps that I haven't obtained yet...

This awesome owl bottlecap is from an imported Japanese beer called "Hitachino Nest". The only problem is that it's about $5 per bottle! So I haven't gotten any of these caps yet. I can't justify paying $5 for a beer just for the cool bottlecap.

And this cap is from Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale ("Tempered over burning witches"! LOL! )