Keep the Sea Plastic-Free

The Process

STEP 1. DESIGN A MURAL

First, we needed to come up with a design for a mural. We looked at several other organization's bottle cap murals, and decided to do a marine environment advocating for less plastic use.

STEP 2. SKETCH IT OUT

A team of 6th, 7th and 8th graders sketched out a small, to-scale drawing of the mural design, which included the three main animals: the turtle, the seahorse, and the crab.

STEP 3. COLLECT BOTTLE CAPS

We then put out a request to the school community to send in bottle caps for the mural. We made collection bins and put them in the cafeteria, main entrance, and library. The community came through with bottle caps of all sizes and colors. Vaccine caps were donated as well.

Copy of STEAM Bottle Caps.mp4

STEP 4. SKETCH THE FULL MURAL

After the bottle caps started rolling in, we drew a larger, actual size version of the scale model sketch on a large piece of paper.

STEP 5. TRACE ONTO THE PLYWOOD

Once the large sketch was done, parts were cut out by the 6th graders, then traced by the 8th graders in pencil.

STEP 6. PAINT THE PLYWOOD

After the design was transferred to the plywood, the appropriate colors were painted on the plywood by the 7th graders to cover up the gaps where the bottle caps wouldn't meet.

STEP 7. DRILL IN AND GLUE ON THE CAPS

All of STEAM worked together to clean, drill in, and glue on the bottle caps. Most caps were simply drilled in, but the vaccine caps were too small, so they had to be glued on using very strong superglue.

STEP 8. PAINT THE SCREWS

To take away from the glare of the metallic screws, we painted them the colors of the bottle caps they held in.

STEP 9. FINISHING TOUCHES

To finish off our part in the project, we painted missed areas and screws, made sure all the caps were on tight, and signed our names on the back of the mural.

STEP 10. HANG THE FINAL PRODUCT

The county sent professionals to hang our mural in the front stairwell, where everyone can see it.

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