And more shiny things...
Feb. 12th, 2007 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afmetalsmithThese are the 2 bottlecaps I've been working on:
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Silver Bottlecap with Amethyst A prototype: a prettier cap for bottles of perfume and aromatherapy oils than they usually have! This bottlecap is a sterling silver "skin" fitted over a commercially-purchased bottlecap (with a glass wand) that fits standard 5ml and 10ml bottles. Although this one is plain, the side of the cap could be engraved. I am exploring the possibilities of making more of these, with various stones or other decorations. 0.875 x 0.75 inch (22 x 18 mm), with 12mm amethyst. (Bottle not included) Sterling and fine silver, amethyst, commercial bottlecap with glass wand. |
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Mars Bottlecap Another prototype: I was curious about the difficulty of completely hand-making a replacement cap for standard 5ml and 10ml bottles, rather than making a skin that fits over a commercial cap. The BPAL perfume oil "Mars" is a big hit in our house: not only do we love the smell, but we are both metalsmiths and both Aries as well! So when I decided to completely fabricate a bottlecap, it seemed like the perfect choice. This bottlecap is not a skin for a commercial cap, like the one with the amethyst; this one is completely handmade, although I did take the nylon washer and the glass wand from a commercial one. It's smaller than the commercial caps as a result, since silver is stronger than the plastic out of which they are made. The Mars symbol was pierced out of sterling sheet, and enameled with red glass enamel. Red's a sensitive color, and I overfired it a bit to get some darkness around the edges. The symbol is attached to the cap with a handmade screw, and I tapped the corresponding hole in the cap. The screw threads with which the cap fits on the bottle are handmade out of wire, and soldered into the cap. The wand is epoxied into a short length of tubing. 0.75 x 1 inch (18 x 25 mm). Sterling silver, glass enamel, glass wand, nylon washer. Not for sale. |
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Mars Bottlecap (detail) This is a close-up of the cap with the Mars symbol. |
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Mars Bottlecap (inside) Another detail: this one shows the inside of the cap, with the handmade screw threads and a glimpse of the tubing that holds the wand. |
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Date: 2007-02-12 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 10:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 10:50 pm (UTC)They are Teh Awesome!!! I'd buy bottlecaps for my bottles (well, at least Thunderbird and the Chimera I want to get someday) if they were affordable.
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Date: 2007-02-12 10:53 pm (UTC)What do you think would be best for the functional part: new created "cork", or ???
I'll admit, we don't tend to need wine stoppers, because we usually finish the bottle. :)
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Date: 2007-02-12 10:56 pm (UTC)I'd love to post on a BPAL community, but need to check the rules so I don't do it someplace where it would be unwelcome. Similarly with the scent lockets I've made...
Unfortunately, these are probably not all that affordable. Even the amethyst one took a reasonable amount of time and materials, and the Mars one took stupidly long. However, I'm thinking of making another all-silver one- and hopefully avoiding a couple of the hassles this one had- and then getting some cast; still, it'd be a fair amount of metal, and so not really cheap. I wish this were not the case... :(
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Date: 2007-02-12 11:02 pm (UTC)I do need to do some serious price-figuring on the stuff I posted yesterday and today. Grr. I HATE pricing...
me too! hee!
Date: 2007-02-12 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 11:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 02:12 pm (UTC)