13 WTHRBottle caps provide unique medium for Colts fan

Bottle caps provide unique medium for Colts fan

Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - A Colts creation is creating a lot of buzz for the Blue Crew. One local fan turned his love of the team into a work of art.

It's perhaps the unusual set of supplies that makes the artwork so unique - bottle caps. They're a staple of tailgating and often hit the trash after game day.

But Colts fan Nathan Rues collected bottle caps and created a piece of art. The donated design, featuring a Colts horseshoe, now hangs proudly in the Blue Crew Sports Grill in Fishers.

"I started collecting bottle caps in college," Rues explained. "I like to tell people to do this, it takes a lot of perspective and patience."

Rues is an engineer by day, but mixed-media artwork is his creative outlet. He has boxes and buckets full of bottle caps - more than 100,000 at last count. They're sorted by color, ready to be perfectly placed and glued to a template, which he sketches by hand.

"Most people see a bottle cap, they see a piece of trash. I see a bottle cap, I see a color that I need," Rues said.

His designs aren't limited to the Colts. Rues created a piece for his college alma mater and even re-made a masterpiece. He used more than 4,600 bottle caps to depict Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

But a connection to the Colts now drives his creativity. For the past year, the Blue Crew Sports Grill has supplied the bottle caps for his artwork.

"He stops in once a week and gets all our bottle caps," said bartender Patti Donahue. "At first I thought maybe he was going to recycle them for something, but I wasn't real sure. But then the more he came in we got to talking, then he told me he made pictures. It took awhile for me to get in the habit, 'Oh yeah, I've got to throw them in the bucket.' But now I feel guilty even if I throw one away."

Rues' pieces are not for profit. He donates the money he makes from the art to local children's hospitals. He says he enjoys inspiring people with a unique hobby and unique designs, including the tribute to his favorite team.

The Colts piece has created so much interest, Nathan Rues made a second one to auction off. You can go to the Blue Crew Sports Grill in Fishers until Super Bowl Sunday and place your bid. The winner gets the art, with all proceeds going to children's hospitals in Indianapolis.

Kaps for Kids Facebook page