DIY Swag: Bottle Cap Magnets

In comparison to the pins we first created, these came out a LOT better. Though we decided to make magnets, we could have made more pins using what we learned the first time around.

Completed magnet (in yellow) top view and reverse view and lesson-learned view.

We had the hot glue gun and clear poly paint already but if you don't have them they're easy and cheap enough to get. You can also substitute a different glue, like epoxy or Shoe Goo, if you already have those. Not including those items, these came out to 45¢ apiece. Here's a shopping list of what you'd need to more or less duplicate what we've made:

• Bottle caps (ebay, 50 for $8.50 = 17¢ each)
• 3/4" by 6mm ceramic magnets (ebay, 50 for $12.99 = 26¢ each)
• 7/8" round polyester labels (onlinelabels.com, 10 sheets of 80 for $12.50 = 2¢ each)
• Hot glue (meh)
• Clear high gloss polyurethane (meh)

Again, the magnet faces were designed in InDesign and printed on my laser printer on special label stock. I found a store online that sells weatherproof polyester laser labels precut into .875" (7/8") discs which perfectly fits on a bottle cap. We hot glued a magnet into the back of each cap, allowed it to cool down, affixed a label to the front, then gave the front a very light spray of clear high gloss polyurethane. The result came out a lot better than we expected.