Sunday Made: Bottle Caps

This is not something I've made, but rather something I hope to make someday. Functional art/furniture made of re-purposed items that would normally be tossed in the trash is always exciting to me, and I thought these were particularly beautiful.

The snowboard bench was a useful item for sure, and the bottle cap base was unique and, honestly, quite pretty. The tire was less functional (they were playing a "toss the can" game at the local Next Big Idea Festival), but actually more beautiful. I can imagine it being in a yard or garden, as a planter or as seating around the fire pit. The makers said they had rammed the inside with all the unrecyclable plastics, such as cellophane and plastic wrap, they couldn't get rid of in a year, so the tire had some rigidity and potentially a longer life-span because of the stuffing. I, of course, was drawn to the maker's obvious understanding of minimizing waste (he mentioned that they try to get close to zero waste but are just unable to eliminate all plastic packaging). I also asked how long it took to save all the bottle caps and he replied that his younger brother was in college...

Which, as a side note, is rather annoying to me. Since when it is such common knowledge, such an ordinary expectation, that a person in college would be able to collect hundreds of beer bottle caps? Having done my fair share of drinking in college, I'm no exception, but years later, I'm questioning the expectation that for so many it is a time merely of "freedom", and not a serious addition to life experiences. But this isn't really something I'm interested in exploring is this blog, so I'll just admire the exceptional number of beer bottle caps on the lovely art/furniture. And add that we'll have to ask others to collect bottle caps for us for future art projects.