Caps Are Coming

**** I JUST POSTED TEN NEW BOTTLE CAP PENDANTS IN MY ETSY SHOP! GO GET ONE!!****

I decided to post these on etsy to get my "sold items" number up. I hope you find one you like!
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It was a great, disaster free night, so all my caps set up nicely and I am excited to show you how they turned out! Here is one batch. I have 13 in all (and will of course be making more). These five are on wide satin cording and the others are on a thinner silk. (You can see the other type of silk in the photo below.) I am going to work on posting them on my website later today or tomorrow. But until then... let me tell you all about them!!

I said yesterday that they are 'kinda' easy to make. And they are. But only in that you can kick out a bunch at a time. First, I sorted through the caps picking out my favorite ones. (When I post them later, you'll be able to see the front and back of each one, individually.) One of the things that I love about these is that they are 'GREEN' pendants... made of recycled stuff. I have a box that collects lots of silver scrap bits. I usually save scraps to have re-refined at the end of the year. But for these, those bits and pieces are great fillers. I also used frit (crushed glass) and spare beads too. Old chunks of metal I practiced hammering on... a rusty old lobster clasp... bits of satin cording... nothing is safe when filling caps. So... I sort the caps, adhere them to the surface where I will do the resin pour, then start loading them up.

Here is where the not so easy parts come in. You need to plan ahead when you make these. Each one needs something to make a bail out of later on. (A bail is the part that lets you hang it off something, makes it a 'pendant'.) And those bails need to be placed in a way that makes them balanced, and also won't interfere with the resin pour.

So now... you have your caps all set. They are filled with bits and pieces... they have bails... it is time to do the 'pour'. You mix up equal parts of resin and hardener. Stir and stir and stir and stir some more. You gotta mix it really well. Then you let it sit for about 5 mins. That gives it time to release the bubbles. Then you slowly fill each cavity. I use self doming resin so that, literally domes. It goes above the level of the cap itself and makes a sorta magnify glass type effect. Now, every once in a while you spill a little. Or one over flows (like the blue one I am wearing in the pic.) Don't fret. Leave it alone. The spill will snap right off with pliers when it is dry. And then, you can decide if you like it half filled or if you wanna re pour it the next time you make more. I happen to like this one half full.

Last thing to do is wait. Wait, wait, wait... until the resin sets. After about 3-4 hours it won't spill any more but is still tacky. After about 12 hours, it is all dry. Dry, and ready to be strung up. Cool Huh? So see, they are 'sorta' easy, 'sorta' not. Good thing is that they are recycled, like I said, and they also don't' cost a great deal to make. So, when I list them, I will be posting them for $30.

For how to wear it.... Each silk ribbon is tied off with a simple disc bead. The bead can slide a little, but only if pulled. So you can pull the disc and lengthen it to any size. My sister always wears her string that hang down in the back, wrapped around the side in the front. I have LOTS more caps and LOTS more scraps... so I will kick out LOTS more of these (while I am still in the mood.) I am trying to do some in every color... so if you have a favorite color, let me know, I'll try to work on those.