Category: Life

I was inspired to make this wreath by a do-it-yourself project that I ran across on pinterest (original link here) and pinned it in my “DIY: wannado’s” board a month or so ago.   I immediately knew that I was going to try to make one – not just because I loved the way it looked, but because I have been hoarding corks for 10-15 years (much to monte’s bemusement) just waiting for a project I could use them in.   The hot-pad-trivet-made-out-of-corks projects I usually run across just didn’t do it for me.

I love wreaths, and with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, I knew I’d better get started if I wanted to finish it before the holidays.  I love how it turned out.   Here’s how I did it.

I bought an 18″ diameter straw wreath body (from Michael’s) a box of 1 1/4″ dressmaker pins (longer is better) and some craft glue (from Joanne’s).   Then I dug out and dusted off several bags/boxes labeled “corks” from the garage and started sorting.   I didn’t keep track of exactly how many I used, but I’m pretty sure it’s on the order of about 400-500 corks.  I can’t help but do a little math here…. if i estimate that on average I spent $12 a bottle… that means this wreath cost in the neighborhood of about $5000.   (heheheh… sigh)   Anyway, as I was sorting,  I tossed corks that weren’t 100% solid cork.  Many were made up of lots of little pieces of cork molded in the shape of a cork.   I also wanted to mix up the red wine (stained) & white wine corks and mix in a champagne cork every now and then.   So I picked out bunches of them as I went along.

Stick a pin into each cork – get a good bite but leave as much of the pin hanging out as you can.

Then put a line of glue on the pin.

Then stick the cork into position by pushing the head end of the pin into the straw wreath form.  I inserted them all at an angle, where one row laid on top of the last one.  Sometimes the pins went into a gap between the straw and didn’t stick well.   So try to make sure you poke the pin through some of the straw when you push them in.   Between the pins and the glue, the corks were surprisingly stable in the wreath when finished.

I must admit that it was a little daunting getting started, but after the first row or two, it really was easy and went a lot quicker than I expected.  Here is a close up of how the layering turned out.  Some of the corks had years printed on the end or a unique logo, which added a nice touch to the detail.

I hastily added the ribbon as an afterthought, to dress it up for the holidays.   I know the ribbon looks a bit hokey, but I wanted to hang it up on the door to take a picture, so I was in a hurry.   But you get the idea.  After Christmas I’ll remove the ribbon and hang it on a wall in the house dining room or kitchen.

Start saving those corks!