A prototype: I was curious about the difficulty of completely hand-making a replacement cap for standard 5ml and 10ml bottles, rather than making a skin that fits over a commercial cap.

The BPAL perfume oil "Mars" is a big hit in our house: not only do we love the smell, but we are both metalsmiths and both Aries as well! So when I decided to completely fabricate a bottlecap, it seemed like the perfect choice.

This bottlecap is not a skin for a commercial cap, like the one with the amethyst; this one is completely handmade, although I did take the nylon washer and the glass wand from a commercial one. It's smaller than the commercial caps as a result, since silver is stronger than the plastic out of which they are made.

The Mars symbol was pierced out of sterling sheet, and enameled with red glass enamel. Red's a sensitive color, and I overfired it a bit to get some darkness around the edges. The symbol is attached to the cap with a handmade screw, and I tapped the corresponding hole in the cap.

The screw threads with which the cap fits on the bottle are handmade out of wire, and soldered into the cap. The wand is epoxied into a short length of silver tubing.

0.75 x 1 inch (18 x 25 mm). Fits standard 5 ml. and 10 ml. bottles.

Sterling silver, glass enamel, glass wand, nylon washer.

2007. Not for sale. (Commissions welcome, though! Please email me for details.)
Details: Above is a close-up of the cap itself, showing the enameled "Mars" symbol and the high polish.

Below is a shot of the inside of the cap, showing the wand and the handmade threads for the screw-top bottle.