I love you because... Message in a Bottle Key Ring

Here it is - the handmade gift personalized by you for the special guy in your life! Of course, this would make a great women's necklace as well, but you know how hard those guys are to shop for! This is another fabulous Tutorial Exchange project with a glass vial provided by the sweetest Angie of Supply Pusher!

Original tutorial and many more at Shrimp Salad Circus.

Step 1: Materials

• glass vial with top (provided by Supply Pusher)
• brass disc with hole
• two jump rings
• key ring
• 2 slips of paper cut to the height of the vial
• black permanent marker
• nice pen
• metal letter stamps (provided by Evie's Tool Emporium)
• steel bench block
• hammer
• E-6000 adhesive
• steel wool or fine-grit sandpaper

Comments

[deadpan46]

brilliant! i love it =)

[AssistantToTheRegionalManager]

You could also sand off the face of a coin suchas a quarter or a nickel and add your message. Maybe leave one face with her birthyear on it. Risk defacing money for brownie points with you girl? Truly an age old moral question...

[koby_elian]

Where can you get a brass disc? Anyway, this is so amazing!

[eyang]

simple but romantic,i like it!

[peterjacob]

wow, thats so sweet. i wish someone would send me one of those! :)
but that wil never happen..

im so lonely..

[tori1012]

aw dont say that about yourself. everyone is beautiful or handsom in some way.

[cowscankill]

Yeah. I know what you mean :(

[dgytik]

What size are the metal letter stamps?

[timothymh]

(I just copied from a reply she wrote)

"They are 1.5mm, and I got them from Evie's Tool Emporium on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/39515895/metal-stamping-set-15-mm-36-piece "

[gschoppe]

Thank you for the Great Idea, I have a friend who's going through some tough times, and this made the perfect gift for her... Pictures:
www.dropbox.com/gallery/1350214/1/necklace%20christmas%20gift

Keep up the great work!

[ShrimpSaladCircus]

That's gorgeous!!! Thank you so much for sharing pictures!!!

[gschoppe]

so I bought 6 vials when I ordered, thinking that eventually they would have a home, and until yesterday, I had 5 remaining.

but a last minute necessity for a birthday gift required invention, so I now have only 4 left:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gschoppe/4813419007/

I know this isn't exactly what the instructable used them for, but I thought the similarity validated the comment.

Once again, thank you for introducing me to these little charms

[polevaulter33]

for a girl gift this would also make an excellent necklace!

[wmcraver]

 Is there a specific website where you can find varieties of discs?  Brass, silver...  I've been looking and cannot find a decent website.

[crowsfolly]

ETSY.com has lots of suppliers that provide copper, brass and aluminum discs for this purpose..most are very affordable. Look under "supplies" once you are on the front page.

[Future filmaker]

My thinking is to buy a brass disk and then spray paint it flat black, then your new color, like silver, after punching in your message, not certain if that would work, but its worth a try...

[mdeblasi1]

There is a product called Black Max that Reo Grande sells that will turn brass and copper a velvety black.  There is also Liver of sulfur ( which smells just like it sounds it would) that will put an iridescent black patina on silver, copper and brass.
Marya

[Short One]

I love this idea! I just wish I could find a place in town to buy them instead of buying them online and having to pay icky shipping prices. Speaking of ordering online, this website has vials with screw cap and cork stoppers. Check it out! http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=12

[PMSandaGun]

So sweet...I'm a girl and I want one! Think I'll do this for my son's dad for Father's day...Though he didn't bother himself with anything for Mother's Day. But I digress, lol 

[geoper2]

i have the same question what size are the metal letters that you have ?

[ShrimpSaladCircus]

They are 1.5mm, and I got them from Evie's Tool Emporium on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/39515895/metal-stamping-set-15-mm-36-piece

[geoper2]

ok nice ! thanks for the reply

[chickababie23]

did you glue the top onto the glass vial? how does it open???

[paperclip32]

 it's not supposed to.It's more of a accessory.You could not glue it if you wanted the guy to see it though. 

[bowmaster]

Wait, how are you supposed to get the message out of the vial?

[Singingwolf]

You aren't.  That's why you use the second copy of the message as the "ribbon" on the box.

[bowmaster]

Oh! I see!

[lindsayspears]

does anyone have any idea where to get those discs? I cant find them. :(

[Miscelinious]

an easy place to find some (possibly unusable) disks is at a construction site where electricians punch out panel boxes (the punchouts are crude aluminum quarter sized disks).

[Miscelinious]

i suppose if you were very desperate for a metal disk, you could get an aluminum(?) disk off of a construction site.

electricians have panel boxes that require disks of about a quarter size to be punched out in order to run wire through inside and outside of the panel box.

the punchouts are a bit crude, so it would have to be sanded, or smoothed, but these disks are very common and could possibly be used after you drill a hole.

[WhiteTigerTails]

If you go to VampFangs.com, You can find small, screw-top vials like this, intended for liquid.

[gschoppe]

are you certain those are screw top?  They appear to be the same exact model of phial:

http://www.vampfangs.com/Test-Tube-Pendant-p/bvttempty.htm

[mary eight]

 Nice idea!

[Dreistein]

 girls are harsh creatures

[Warlrosity]

That is so ironic

[blackbanner]

what?

[Warlrosity]

Huh?

[blackbanner]

What's ironic?

[ShrimpSaladCircus]

You have to glue the caps on these because they do not have a screw top. I think it also kind of adds to the intrigue and sentiment of the piece.

[heymissmurder13]

why seal it?