Now, here's a step-by-step tutorial. First I collected my materials. I used bottle caps (I used 20 in mine), a tin can lid, a chopstick, and glue (I started with super glue but switched to epoxy b/c some weren't holding).
From there, I started bending my bottle caps into the shape of flower petals. The basic idea was inspired by a previous Iron Craft project where I had created a felt flower. I used my pliers and just started bending until I got the shape I wanted.
For me, the easiest way to do it was to grab the rim of the bottle cap and pull it down to flatten it. Then I would bend in the two sides. Finally, I would bend down the top. My first few petals looked like blobs of metal so it takes a little trial-and-error.
As I went, I laid my petals out on the tin can lid to determine how many I would need. I did two layers of petals, but you can switch it up and do more if you like.
Next I glued on the petals. I did the entire outside row first and then switched to the second layer. Like I mentioned above, I tried using super glue but found that some of my petals weren't holding so I switched to epoxy.
Finally, I added one more bottle cap in the center. Now you have a finished flower!
From there, I attached a chopstick by gluing it onto the can lid in between two of the petals. This allowed me to turn it into a garden stake. But there are lots of other possibilities. You could paint it, add leaves (maybe cut from soda cans?), turn it into a pin, etc.
Want to see more Iron Craft pieces? Check out the flickr group here. Want to join in the fun? Check out the blog here.
