I had the great pleasure of recently creating another bottle cap mural!
This time the mural was made for an Aveda store in Strongsville, Ohio.
Aveda is a beauty company that specializes in naturally derived ingredients.
They are committed to pursuing environmental sustainability and were
the first privately held company to sign the CERES Principles
(Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies).
Aveda is also the first beauty company that packages their products
in 100% post consumer polyethylene terephtalate (PET) plastic.
Aveda pioneered Aveda Caps Recycling when they found out that a
majority of plastic bottle caps aren't recycled, but instead end up in
landfills, rivers and oceans. Aveda collects caps from the public at
different store locations throughout the country. These caps are then
washed, ground up and formed into pellets that are molded into
new caps that are used on Aveda products.
* Information taken from Aveda web-site: http://www.aveda.com/discover/index.tmpl#section=acting_responsibly
Each year, Aveda dedicates the month of April to raise money to
support clean water projects here in the U.S. and around the world.
Over the last five years, $16 million of funds have been raised.
To find out more about Aveda's Earth Month events, go to:
In an effort to support Aveda's Earth Month and to take part
in the Recycling Caps program, I created my latest mural.
I brought home boxes and boxes of caps from the Aveda store
in Strongsville and spent a few months collecting caps, taking
an hour or two at a time to sort and clean.
I brought home boxes and boxes of caps from the Aveda store
in Strongsville and spent a few months collecting caps, taking
an hour or two at a time to sort and clean.
I knew I would need a lot of blue caps, so this is what I had the most of
when I began to assemble the actual mural.
Sometimes I feel like a little kid in a candy store when I sort and
organize my caps. I get so excited to find new colors and sizes,
especially really little caps. These discoveries tap into memories of playing
with my dollhouse as a child. I still love miniatures. You should hear me squeal!
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| Bottle caps sorted, cleaned and stored in my little basement studio |
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| Notice the wee-little cap on the left side, bottom row. These caps come in so handy for tiny spaces that need to be filled. I love them! |
Below is a photo of me sketching out the design on the board.
I came up with three designs for the mural. I knew I wanted
the design to depict water to represent Aveda's clean water projects.
My first two sketches were a little too abstract (as seen below).
I decided on a more representational (although still abstract) design.
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| Me sketching out the design on the 2' x 8' board |
Below is the mural in progress. I started off
hot-gluing the caps and then decided to skip
this step entirely and go right to screwing
the caps individually. I felt better knowing the
caps would stay intact while in transit.
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| Hot-gluing the caps |
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| Screwing down the caps |
Over 1,400 caps and screws were used to
create this mural. I include finishing
washers to maintain a sense of aesthetic.
I like the industrial look of the stainless steel.
Below is a photo of the finished mural on display at the
Aveda store in Strongsville, Ohio.
