Ever Wonder What to Do with Your Bottlecap Collection?

Meet Cappy, the Bottlecap Giraffe.

This giraffe derives its decidedly cosmopolitan air from bottlecaps from more than thirty-four different beverages including the Vichy État water bottler in France, the Molson brewery in Canada, and the British soft drink manufacturers, Bryant's and Schweppes. Its creator, a true recycler, has gathered together a wide variety of other materials, including tree branches and a fur tail for his creation. The animal's backward-leaning stance opposes the potential forward motion of the wheels. The giraffe's mouth was originally rigged to open and close at the pull of a wire. Inspired by this scuplture, the museum has published a children's book about a giraffe named Cappy who loves art. Get better acquainted with Cappy by purchasing Bottlecaps to Brushes: Art Activities for Kids by Lynn-Steven Engelke from our online museum shop.

Source: Lynda Roscoe Hartigan. Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection in the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and London: For the National Museum of American Art by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990).

Pictured top: Unidentified artist, Bottlecap Giraffe,completed after 1966, carved and painted wood, bottlecaps, rubber, glass, animal hair and fur, and sheet metal, 72 1/2 x 54 x 17 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson.

Pictured bottom: Unidentified artist, Bottlecap Giraffe (detail).