Bottle top jewellery

By Spotlight

Turn discarded bottle tops into jewellery that tells a very special story. By Helen Bradley.

Final Result

Materials

• 5 bottle tops
• glitter glue
• 1m x 20 gauge silver beading wire
• large jump rings
• 6 large seed beads
• dimensional adhesive - Glossy Accents, Diamond Glaze, etc.
• lobster hook
• 30cm light chain
• 2cm circle punch
• hammer & nail
• jewellery pliers
• wire-working tools

Step 1

Select five bottle tops to use and use pliers to flatten the edges. Use a hammer and nail to make two holes in each bottle top, one each side of the bottle top.

Step 2

Trim a piece of wire approximately 9cm long. Make a wrapped wire loop in one end before passing the wire through the holes in the bottle top. Complete the second end with a twisted wire loop.

Repeat for all five bottle tops.

Fill each bottle top with sufficient dimensional adhesive to cover the wire and create a flat surface. Set aside to dry.

Step 3

Punch the photos into circles the size required to fit in the bottle top. Apply a small amount of dimensional adhesive to the flattened surface and press the photograph flat until it adheres to the bottle top.

Repeat for the remaining bottle tops.

Step 4

Flood the surface of the images with more dimensional adhesive to form a thick, flat, glossy surface.

Remove all air bubbles and set aside until dry.

When dry, run a thin line of glitter glue around the edge of the bottle top and set aside to dry.

Step 5

Loop each bottle top to another bottle top using a jump ring with a large seed bead threaded onto it. Add a jump ring and bead to each end of the linked bottle tops.

Affix a small length of chain to each end. Attach a lobster clasp to one length of chain and a large jump ring to the other.

Handy Hint

This necklace can be made into a bracelet by shortening the amount of chain used or eliminate it entirely. It can be made using images of family members, your pets or whatever you like. The photos here are of me and my sister, mum and our two grandmothers - it’s a fun way to celebrate the women in our family.