A Floor Mat From Plastic Bottle Caps (Experiment #1)

I had a couple of ideas on how to turn plastic caps from soda... fermented barley soda... bottles into floor mats. This is one of them. At the moment I wasn't that active on Instructables so I wasn't thinking about step-by-step documentation but I'll try to squeeze the material into the format.

So, yes, the experiment was successfull, and, what I want to show here, is how to make a floor mat with plastic caps by interconecting them with plastic rings that came from the same bottles. On the photo you can see the test piece. It is small but it keeps growing with new incoming caps, and I'll put new photos as an update when it will be done.

But enough with that. Let's get started.

Step 1:

First of all we'll going to need some plastic caps and rings. You need equal quantityof both (actually you're end up using a bit lesser amount of rings because the caps at the edge have less "neigbours" to be connected with)

Step 2:

Every cap has to be prepared in two steps.

First of all, make three evenly spaced holes at the rim. Revolver hole punch does it perfectly, but drill or hot nail are options too. Each opening has to be able to accommodate two rings, so this is the size to aim for.

Also, sometimes the thread pattern on the inside of the cap can help to space out the holes due to its segmentation.

After the holes are done make a cut from the rim to each of them. This is for inserting the rings.

Step 3:

To start connecting the caps, take one of them and insert three rings into it. Then start to add other caps. You can see how it works on the photos.

Small patches tend to curl a bit upwards to the face surface, so if to lie them, they won't be perfectly flat. But after the mat gets bigger it flattens itself under its own weight.

Step 4:

So this is basicaly a constructor. You can make flat mats of all kinds of shapes. But also it's possible to connect surfaces at the right angle to create 3-dimentional shapes. I haven't played with this very much, so if you would try to make something like this, I'd really like to take a look.

Step 5:

And if you're a masochist, you can try this way to connect the caps (it's a bit tedious).

At this caseI there's no need to make cuts at the rim of the cap. The loop of the ring slides in from the side. And don't ask me how the loops are interweft there, because I don't really remember. Just tinker with it untill you'll get the result, it's not that hard.

4 and 3-way connections when combined can allow you to tailor smooth 3-dimentional shapes and surfaces which, I imagine, can result into some cool artistic objects.

So this is how you can make floor mats (and, possibly, other things) from plastic bottle caps. They may be a great use at the shower cabin with cold slippery tile floor (just try it beforehand, bacase mine mat is slippery as well); you can make few patches and thow them onto your lawn to make a temporary footway while picnicking; you can protect your floor from dirt and scratches when putting something on it; if you have a spot in your garden where you're pouring out your grey water, you can put a mat like this on the ground to prevent the soil from washing out. Also I'm thinking of a modification that can allow you to clean your shoes from dirt... Tell me if you can thing of any other posible usages.

But this is it for now. Thank you for your attention and don't mix juices.