I was inspired by this artist's bottle cap fish to create my own bottle cap dragon. 540 beer bottle caps (170 Amber Bock, 206 Killians, 68 Budweiser Select, 96 Budweiser) make up this 41 x 43 inch piece.

Step 1: Planning

I took some time to draw out the design in my notebook and to measure the size of a standard bottle cap.

To save on the amount of caps I would need to complete the design, I decided to flatten them out with a hammer; carefully avoiding folding the sides over.

Step 2: Layout on Cardboard

After transferring the design to a sheet of cardboard, I laid out the bottle caps to get an idea of how many I would need for the project. It would have taken me years to accumulate enough caps so I emailed my friends: Beer Drinkers Unite!

Note: It took me 5 months to gather and flatten enough caps.

Step 3: Transfer to Plywood

I then cut out the cardboard and traced it onto a sheet of 3/8" birch plywood. I chose birch over hard-board or MDF for its rigidity.

Once traced onto the plywood, I carefully cut it out with a jigsaw.

Step 4: Applying the Caps

I started fastening the caps with a hot glue gun but it was taking forever (and I had a cheap glue gun.) I decided to use silicon sealant instead. This greatly sped up the process.

Overall I used 3 tubes of silicon and 1/2 tube of construction adhesive.

Step 5: The Finished Product.

I added some touch-up paint along the edges where the caps didn't fully cover and put a couple of screws and some piano wire on the back to hang it with. The finished piece (41" x 43") now hangs next to my bar in my basement.

This was a really fun, albeit time consuming, project. 540 caps = 90 six packs = ~$7 per six pack (depending on the brand) = ~$630 worth of beer.

I've started collecting caps for my next project -- if you own a bar and want to help out, collect your caps and mail them to me. Or if you're local, I'll come out and pick them up!