I started creating recycled jewelry out of bottle caps When I was living in Munich as an exchange student. I had very few materials to work with, but I did have many Paulaner Spezi caps with a nice silver interior, brought to me by my friend who was working as a bartender. I found that I could use pliers to flatten bottle caps, cut them into strips, and use those strips to make a variety of different types of interesting chains and rings.
RAW BOTTLE CAPS
First Drafts
I started first with rings, figuring out how to fold strips together and glue them so that no sharp edges showed.
Then, I tried making a chain. I cut the caps into smaller strips and folded them in loops over each other. The flat pieces naturally formed a sort of box chain. IT was messy at first, but in the next version I really got the hang of the pattern.
FIRST DRAFT: CHAIN AND RINGS
NEW CHAIN PATTERN
Final Experiments
After a while, I learned how to pick caps based on interior metal color for consistency. I learned to fold more intricate patterns and stick pieces together much more precisely.
I also created a complex flat loop chain that fits together with a series of triangles. This is one I would like to make in metal someday.
IMPROVED BOX CHAIN
IMPROVED RINGS