Can't Get Enough Bottle Cap Art #3

The easiest way to continue my series on bottle caps is to show the works of some fabulous artists I've found on Etsy.  Jewelry represents a growing avenue of bottle cap design and is the first set of designers featured.  These designs can be loosely divided into those that: showcase the cap itself; use the cap as a form for other artwork; use the cap as a bezel; or transform  the cap into a new form.

The Integrity of the Cap

The first four designers embrace the iconic image of the bottle cap and preserve that image to different affect.  The first designer, Blingismything, showcases the cap in its original form.  Few do it as well as Katie; her designs are simple, yet chic and wearable.  While the cap does the heavy lifting, her beadwork adds whimsy and flair.  Also showcasing the elemental cap is the second designer, edGys.  I love how he flairs out the edges of his bottle caps to create unique decorative pins.  It's a fabulous design that celebrates the cap while changing its look dramatically.

When I stumbled across the third designer, artbyelissa, I was immediately enamored with her jewelry.  Every piece of  the earrings you see here are from recycled materials and SOLDERED.  I put it in capitals to show how impressed I am with this design.  Soldering is not for whimps, it takes practice and I find it very difficult to master.  Which leads me to the fourth designer, mannmadedesigns.  Jimmy makes his OWN sterling silver bezels and findings.  He cuts out the important part of the bottle cap (the image) and sets it in precious metal.  His design elevates the cap into something that would easily grace the store front of your favorite jewelry store.

The Cap as a Form or Bezel

The next two designers take a different direction with their bottle cap art.  They use the bottle cap as a form or structure for their other artwork.  The first, SomewhatHip, uses the bottle cap as a canvas for her stunning paintings.  I've done some very minor painting in the past, and painting on such a small scale takes real talent (again, not for the faint hearted).  The next designer's, craftyaddictions, piece caused me a great deal of stress when I first researched my own designs.  Well, not her's specificially, but the notion of the flattened cap.  No matter how hard I tried, my cap DID NOT look like this.  (The capitals illustrate my level of frustration at the time.)  It took several ruined caps before I discovered this look can only be achieved with unused bottle caps.  Notice how perfectly the unused cap flattens into a wonderful bezel for her artwork.  Unused caps can be found from many sources, but the most common is the home beer brewing industry.  For my designs, a used cap works better, so oftentimes I have to use my husband's bottler to crimp them first.  But for designers like craftyaddictions and scrapbookers, the unused cap is pure gold.

What Cap?

The next two designers remind me most of Mary Hettmansperger's inspiration.  When you first look at these two designers, markaplan and RadiantShadow, you don't see a bottle cap, you see a stunning piece of jewelry.  Who needs a pristine, unblemished cap, when a rusty beat up cap provides such a spectacular design.  I've been pinning after Mark's earrings since I featured them in my very first etsy treasury many moons ago.  Denise's pendant is now on that list of growing wants.

Bottle Cap or Cabochon?

The last designer is a fellow Etsy Beadweaver's teammate, PFordCustomJewelry.  This is a design very much after my heart and uses the bottle cap (in this case champagne) as a cabochon surrounded by beautiful beadwork.  While preserving the bottle cap image, the cap is transparent in this design.  Your eye is drawn to the image itself and the beadwork which showcases it. 

In the next post, I'll showcase functional bottle cap designers.  If you'd like to learn more about the designers in this post, please check out their shops:

http://blingismything.etsy.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/edGys

http://www.etsy.com/shop/artbyelissa

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mannmadedesigns

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SomewhatHip

http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftyaddictions

http://www.etsy.com/shop/markaplan

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RadiantShadow

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PFordCustomJewelry