tutorial: easy & fun bottle cap magnets

I've created a tutorial based on my thing-a-day project and my magnet fun after T-A-D ended. This project is a multi-day affair as you will need proper drying time for each magnet. I suppose if you start at 9am a full day will do the trick!

(We're making the caps)

Part One: Painting

What you'll need:
- bottle caps (I collect them. If you don't, I hear ebay is a great place to find them in bulk)
- craft paint
- paintbrushes
- drop cloth or other protective surface

...As you can see I also had some carpet cleaner. I painted while watching a movie in the living room... and while drinking wine...so carpet cleaner came in handy!

Step one: paint your caps. I chose a random pattern. You could use a stencil or freehand something amazing. I really like random splotches.

Step two: let caps dry. I allowed a week or something before I did anything else with them (I was making this up as I went along). Obviously, a week is not necessary.

Part Two: creating the magnet and glazing

What you'll need:- your fully dried bottle caps
- magnets (I used this pack of strong magnets)
- strong adhesive (like E6000)
- spacers (I used wooden circles, but cardboard would work)
- Glaze (like Diamond Glaze)
- paintbrush

Step three: Attach the magnets to your spacers. I put them in the cap first to figure out how many I would need so that the magnet stuck out past the cap.


Step four: Glue the magnet and spacers into the cap. Press down firmly. Let dry completely before moving on to next step.

Step five: Glaze your caps. You can apply as much glaze as you want. I spread mine around with a paintbrush, but if you want a more three dimensional look you won't need to do this.

Step six: Again, let dry completely.

Step seven: hang and enjoy!