Bottle cap pins (badges, brooches, buttons… whatever you call them) are something I’ve been wanting to make for quite a while now. I’ve not actually got round to it before, because I’ve never bothered to keep bottle caps. However, I thought that, with this particular holiday (Christmas & new year), there would be an abundance of drinks being consumed and, in the spirit of recycling, why not make use of the bottle caps?

Anyhoo, I scoured the internet for an image I could use on a test pin (before I made some to possibly sell in the shop… or would no-one be interested?). Ideally, I wanted something “vintage” because I prefer the look of old things and in my lack of vintage magazines, the internet & a printer was sufficient.

The basic method for making bottle cap pins is simple:

1. Get bottle cap, pin backing, your image to the correct size and some glue
2. Cut carefully around the image so that it is circular to the needed size (usually about 1 inch)
3. Using PVA glue, stick the image inside the bottle cap, taking care not to saturate the paper. Allow to dry
4. Using a hot glue gun (or superglue) stick the pin backing to the back of the bottle cap. Make sure that it opens the correct way and is aligned correctly

That’s basically it, but of course, you could add extra decoration inside the bottle cap by gluing maybe some beads or sequins or similar. You can do pretty much whatever you want with it! Oh dear, I appear to have just given away my secret should I wish to add any to the shop later… ah well…