3 New Caps

Here are the latest additions to the collection:

Henry Weinards (3), Michelob Porter & Virgil's

Okay now back to boiling and sorting and finishing up some coasters.

Dog Sleds, Braided Rugs, Coasters and Caps

Productive weekend, went to the Musher's Bowl on Saturday and watched a bunch of dog sled races and skijorning, really cool, thinking we should get KC into it.

Sunday washed every piece of dirty laundry in the house, isn't that a great feeling? Also worked a bunch on the braided rug, am just about through with the first round of braid that I have.

Also got more wire and put more coasters together. Am currently waiting for the caulking to dry on them, I got different stuff this time, that says it's clear but came out white, hoping it'll dry clear. It's also taking quite a while to dry, not the 3 hour stuff I had at first. I'll put up the pictures of those coasters once they are completely done.

Also organized through some caps and have 4 new ones, Sol, Bass, Big Sky Brewing and Deschutes Brewery 20th Anniversary:

From Bottle Caps to Braided Rugs

Who said this blog had to be ALL about bottle caps? Oh wait, I think it was me. Well good thing it was me and no one else, because I am going off course with this next project. Don't get me wrong, still doing bottle cap crafts for sure! But wanted to do something different for a change. So I am working on another "recycled" project. I am making a rug. How is that recycling? Because it starts out with old shirts that were not good enough to go to good will but still too good to throw out. And they are on a journey, shall I show you?

They start as shirts, well loved and worn, but with stains and tears here and there.

So they must be cut, and cut they are.

And so they are not alone they are intertwined with others.

Then finally they spoon each other into submission where they are more than happy to be connected to the next for the rest of their life.

Maybe I should go eat something... My post is getting a little loopy with an empty stomach, back in 10.

1 minute... 2 minutes... 3 minutes... 4 minutes... 5 minutes... 6 minutes... 7 minutes... 8 minutes... 9 minutes... BACK!

So since I have been cutting, and braiding, and wrapping, and sewing KC has been by my side intensly watching what I am doing. She got a little nosey a few times and grabbed an end of a braid and would pull it across the room. She is so quite about it that I wouldn't even notice her take it until she got to the end of the line and I would feel a tug on my end. So I took a few minutes out of braiding yesterday and made her her own braided t-shirt toy. She loves her new spider!

Hoping for a productive day!

So I just got back from my trip out to Bridgton to pick up a bunch of shirts from Debbi! Thanks again! Going through them now and am going to hopefully start on a braided rug tonight!

On the way home took a detour through West Paris to pick up some license plates from this guy named Ben. I left with about 25 and know where I should call if I need more in the future, he has a ton! Of course as I was driving home I thought that I should of looked for specific ones that had the letters of Kevin's last name so they could be attached together and put on top of the mailbox that is going to be refurbished. Oh well, I have Ben's # if I need more.

Just bagged up the caps that were drying overnight and put the finishing touches on the Smirnof coasters. Now I have a few different directions I can go in...

I think I will clean up the office a bit and maybe when Kevin gets home we can re-arrange the living room and the office so that I actually have useable crafting space!

Oh and I have new caps:

Old Thumper

Abita!

Harpoon

Deschutes Brewery

Moosehead Lager

New Projects in the Works, Craft Room Plans & Pepsi Refresh Grant

So I have a few new projects on the docet. Rugs made from t-shirts, have a few people ready to hand over a bunch of old shirts that were previously destined to the trash. Also have a few orders for coasters that I need to finish up. As well as an idea for a cubbie bench made from two storage cubes I have. Also on the list is to refurbish our mailbox with the help of some license plates. So wish I didn't have to work so I could just craft all day every day!

I am trying to convince Kevin that moving the big desk in the office out into the living room is a good idea so that I can rearrange the office and make a more useable craft space, which is where I will be using my cubbie bench once its finished.

Also today I finished my grant proposal for the Pepsi Refresh Project they will let me know on Feb. 1st if my idea was approved to go into the running (which is voter driven) for one of the many grants they are giving away each month. If, scratch that, WHEN I get approved I will shout it from the roof tops what the idea is and promote the crap out of it on here, facebook, twitter, and anywhere I can. Did I mention it was voter driven? So I am keeping my fingers crossed for that.

P.S. You may notice that there are no longer any ads on the blog, apparently Google AdSense thought that the clicks that were generated from this blog were fraudulent. I have to admit, I did click on an ad that was listed on my blog, but for good reason though! It was a political ad that I was COMPLETELY against and I needed to get the web site address it went to so that I could then figure out how to get those ads and others like it blocked from my blog, it was so not cool! Anyway... there's my gripe, now I'll just live with it.

New Caps

Been cleaning and sorting more caps now that the fish is done, have to go through them so that I can start making more coasters, have orders for 3.5 sets already! Waiting on caps for one set, and have to sort through more for the other 2.5. Here are the newest additions to the caps:



1st Row: IBC Diet Root Beer, Presidente, Champange Cap
2nd Row: Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus, Miller Genuine Draft, Leinenkugel Classic Amber
3rd Row: Molson Golden, Slim Chance

Coasters

A few examples of my coasters. Smirnoff set of 4

Australian Coasters for Mara (photo courtesy of MIG)

Hook. Line. Sinker.

Bottle Cap Fish #1 is all done! Since the last post, removed the nails from the back (thanks Kev), lined the back and edges with felt, attached eye-screws and wire, hung on wall.

Now taking orders for your own custom made bottle cap fish! $200 + caps & shipping (if needed). Contact me for details.

And now.... Pièce de résistance:

THE FISH IS DONE!!!!... well almost

To go from this: To this: Is so cool! And I'm not even a week past my deadline, pretty good since for the majority of this fish project I was working 2 jobs and going to school! Imaging what I could crank out if I wasn't crazy busy!

So the biggest, most time consuming, most important part, the caps, are done! There are only the finishing touches to do. I need Kevin's help to remove the rest of the nails that are poking through the back side of the fish:

Can you imagine stepping on that? OUCH!
Also fabric needs to be attached to the back side to hide all the nail ends, as well we need to devise some sort of way to hang it. I'm thinking two eyelets screwed in the back with strong wire between the two, much like how paintings are set up to hang. If this were to be an outdoor fish, or one that I would be selling I would probably spray the caps down with a weather proof sealant. Then last but not least -- The bottle cap fish needs to get hung on the wall! The place I was going to put it, between the stove top and the hood, is not going to work, the fish is just a tad too long, so it will hang proudly above the interior window we have between the kitchen and the living room.

Here are some more shots of the fish in its last stages and once finished. Enjoy!

The face is almost done.

Space for one more cap!

Face & Fish Finally Finished!!!

The whole finished fish.

Close up.

Head Shot.

Blue or Silver....? YOU Decide!

So I worked on the fish this morning and got the face about 1/2 done. Doing so I ran out of silver Coors caps. I have more, in a bin with thousands of other dirty bottle caps. I do have more already clean, already with a hole punched through, blue Twisted Tea Caps. Now here's where you come in... VOTE! Do I stick with my original plan and make the whole fish face Silver? Or do I save some time and do the top half of the face Blue? Please leave your vote in the comment section, Blue or Silver?

To help you out I've supplied a few visuals:

I'll check back in tonight to see what the verdict is!

And I Quote...

New Years Eve Day - I got home from work around 3, we didn't have to be out to Norma & Steves house until 6:30, so in my mind that gave me 3 hours to work on (and hopefully finish) the fish. Kevin had other plans though, that involved leaving right away.

So I asked him flat out, "Well this means I won't be able to finish the fish! Does this mean you are going to throw everything out?"

And he said, and I quote, "We'll see, but you have been working two jobs"

"And going to school" I said.

"And going to school" he said, "so I may be able to give you some leway of a week or so, but we'll see."

With the crisis averted we went to the NYE party.

The next day, Kevin was on the couch and I was working dilligently on the fish on the floor and I asked him, "Honestly, did you think I would get this far?"

And he said, and I quote, "HA! No way!"

At this point I think we both knew that it WOULD get finished and not thrown in the dumpster.

I thought I would have it finished this weekend having a long one and all, but with the NYE and NYD festivities and activities, and having to work all Saturday I didn't get it finished, but it's darn close!!! Why don't you just see for yourself :-)

Work done as of Deadline+1 Day (January 1st, 2010):

The body is complete! No more Twisted Tea caps needed for this fish!

Work done as of Deadline+3 Days (January 3rd, 2010):
I started on the face. I went with the silver Coors caps to match the line that goes through the body of the fish. However with my first two caps of silver attached I realized the mountains were not going the same direction as th the line across the body. Oh well.
Edges are difficult to hammer through, so are knots, so when you have knots on the edges it makes things extreamly difficult to hammer through! For example, on the first line of the face I managed to get only 7 caps attached in an hour and a half! It was very frustrating and I ended up with 7 caps on the fish, lots of little sections of wood that splintered off, and more than 7 bent nails! Once I got through that first row however things went a little smoother. Here's the fish face so far: