Interesting Ideas

Bottle-Cap Art Masterworks | More Masterworks | More | Still More | Troops | Flashers | Turtles | Other Shapes | Blockbuster | Bottle Cap Inn | Mine

Bottle Cap Art
Some superb examples of bottle-cap art, a 20th Century craft that created a wealth of vernacular art

Bottle Cap Art
A seated Tallboy and friend
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
The basket is pretty flimsy, but the tin-can base is precious
Bottle Cap Art
The right-hand figure is above average in high, so the one on the left is really tall -- almost two feet
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
Another old can-bodied figure sold on eBay in 2013. That's two I've seen like this. Thanks to Lynne Bailey for giving me this one
Bottle Cap Art
Turtles were a popuar shape. The one in the middle goes over the top with a built-in cigarette lighter
Bottle Cap Art
The most common of the bottle-cap turtle patterns
Bottle Cap Art
The Oshkosh Master of the Carved Nose and Mouth, after 1963
Bottle Cap Art
The Oshkosh Master of the Carved Nose and Mouth, after 1963
Bottle Cap Art
The supporting post is a standard feature for many larger figures
Bottle Cap Art
I suppose the matched pair are meant to be clowns; note the feet
Bottle Cap Art
I love the figures with bodies made from one piece
Bottle Cap Art
Three modes of sitting
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
The figure on the left was produced in quantity. I've seen more than a dozen of them. Not sure if the body was purpose built for bottle-cap figures or adapated from some other use
Bottle Cap Art
Three by the Wisconsin Master of the Tallboy
Bottle Cap Art
The middle piece is one of the most common bottle-cap figure patterns
Bottle Cap Art
The left-hand figure is the shape for which a patent was issued in 1970, years after basically equivalent figures -- just not so slim -- were being made in large quantity
Bottle Cap Art
Made by me
Bottle Cap Art
A modest example of work by Clarence and Grace Woolsey, the bottle-cap geniuses of western Iowa
Bottle Cap Art
These two figures are from the collection of Herbert Hemphill, one of the pioneering collectors of self-taught art. The best of his collection is in the Smithsonian, but I landed these when the remainder was auctioned. I had admired the one on the right for years after seeing it in a published photo of Hemphill in his crowded apartment
Bottle Cap Art
Admittedly, not cap art, but similar. Presumably made by Tom Every, Dr. Evermore of Wisconsin
Bottle Cap Art
So much to love about this pair
Bottle Cap Art
The middle figure was marketed on eBay as a hippie. I've never seen a log figure like the one on the right
Bottle Cap Art
Three of my best pieces. Years after I acquired the sausage holder, I saw another figure of similar design. The middle figure is standing on a music box. And then there is Lucy
Bottle Cap Art
Two examples of unusual materials. Obviously no bottle caps on the left, even though the figure is otherwise conventional. And someone actually drilled into the stainless steel to make the figure on the right.
Bottle Cap Art
Bottle Cap Art
Three made by me

More | Back to "Unsealed"

The Latest Stuff | Roadside art | Outsider pages | The idea barn | About | Home

Privacy Policy

Copyright Interesting Ideas 2013