Brookfield students make bottle cap art

BROOKFIELD (WITI) - Students at Brookfield Elementary have found a way to turn trash into treasure.

They're working together on a unique project involving thousands of plastic bottle caps.

"I'm attracted to things that aren't necessarily shiny and new. I like things with character. I like things that have a history," said bottle cap artist Michelle Stitzlein.

After discovering most bottle caps aren't recyclable, she thought why not turn them into art.

"They identify that I'm the bottle cap lady in the hallway, which is great,” said Stitzlein.

Before she visited Brookfield Elementary, students collected bottle caps for a year and submitted drawings for their masterpiece.

"It was very hard. I had over 300 drawings to look through and we picked about 20 and we placed all of the drawings together to create a mural," said Brookfield art teacher Kristen Wolf.

After the mural was drawn, the power tools came into play.

Students arranged the bottle caps on their mural and drilled them into place.

Each student added a touch of their own personality.

"You get to use a lot of creativity, which sometimes you have to follow guidelines but really you can use any caps and put them wherever you want. It's pretty cool,” said fifth grader Ben Kindler.

Once it's done, the mural will be hung up in the school for everyone to enjoy.

"They'll be able to walk by and say I drilled that cap on and share with their family and friends that they helped create this mural," said Stitzlein.