DIY Bottle Cap Table

Well first off you need to get yourself a good table for cheap. You could make your own, but I went the route of getting one at a garage sale. The table I got was made out of simple wood, with the top being made of 2 x 6 boards. What I did was to first to seal up all the cracks with caulking that matched the wood color ( in this case brown). This would help prevent the epoxy from seeping through the cracks later on in the process. After sealing the cracks, I went about building a frame to hold to bottle caps and epoxy in place. I decided on a simple box border design, wrapping around the contours of the table. I used cheap 1 x 2 boards that we had laying around, and cut out a box frame. After using light screws to form the frame, I painted the wood with rustoleum black paint, to help seal cracks. After that, I went ahead and screwed in the four corners to the table.

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 After I had the frame set up, I went ahead and painted over the wood that would make the backdrop for the caps to lay on. I figured a black paint would help accent all the colors of the bottle caps. After that dried, I went ahead and started coating all surfaces with polyurethane seal. This would help make the natural color of the wood pop, as well as seal it against the elements and help preserve the table for a longer period. I applied liberally to all portions of the table, about four coats.

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 Now for the fun, lengthy part. I should mention that before measuring out the dimensions of the frame that I made, I layed down my bottle caps in a faux fashion, to get a feel for what the exact dimensions of the frame required. With that being said, after waiting about a day for the polyurethane to dry, I went about putting a dime size amount of caulking to the bottom of the bottle caps that I would be using. This was to make sure that they would not float to the surface when I started laying down the liquid epoxy. After they dried, I assorted them along the table in the way that I liked, then started applying the epoxy.

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The epoxy was the most costly and tricky part of this project. I found a product that seemed to have good reviews and at a good price at Home Depot. It's called Parks SuperGlaze epoxy. It was about 25 dollars a quart. This table required 2 quarts, so expenses for the epoxy alone were 50 dollars. If you end up doing a project like this, it is relatively easy to get the volume you need from simple math. Anyways, after buying the two quarts, you need to make sure that you read the instructions thoroughly. It requires a large amount of mixing, by hand, as well as small but even coats. All in all, I would say it took three days to apply the 2 quarts of epoxy. I was able to do two coats a day, so in total six coats. If you do this, you need to be sure to let the epoxy settle and dry for about 6 hours between coats, but no longer than 24 hours, since this will help promote bubbling. Luckily, this was my first time working with epoxy, and it ended up being a success! The bubbles were kept to a minimum and now I have a table that will last quite awhile with all my favorite beers to show for it.