Don’t throw your wine corks away — reuse them. Make this easy wine cork wreath to give as a gift or use in your own home.
Materials:
1- Large straw wreath (from local or commercial crafting store)
1- Glue gun
1- Large bag of glue gun sticks (100 per bag)
1- Large area to work
Plenty of wine corks
Assorted craft ribbon
Instructions:
1. Find a large area to be able to complete this project. It can take a couple days so you will want a large enough area that you can leave the wreath and come back to it later. If working on a table that you do not want to get glue on, make sure to put down paper bags or a crafting board to cover the table.
2. Unwrap the straw wreath outside and pull out any larger pieces of straw. Gently shake the wreath to let smaller pieces fall free. This will help wine corks adhere to the wreath easier.
3. Place your wine corks in a location that will be easily accessible while you work. A large basket next to you works well, so you can alter sizes of corks as you progress through the project. (Note: You can do this project one of two ways. Work with either all traditional wine corks or with the newer foam corks. Make sure that whichever type of cork you choose to use, you continue to use that type of cork. They tend to adhere to each other better if you keep it consistent.)
4. Next, start gluing the corks to the straw wreath. Begin from the center of the wreath and work your way around and out. You do not need a large amount of glue on each cork. A thin bead of glue down the middle of the cork works well. If anchoring it between two other corks, put a bead of glue on each of the ends as well and hold in place a couple seconds until it is set.
5. Once you have a couple inner layers done, you will begin to cover the front of the wreath. As this is the primary focal point of the project, you will want to begin placing your most “favorite” corks on this layer.
6. As you begin to move down the sides of the wreath it will get a bit tricky for corks to stay in place. You may need to hold them a couple seconds longer to set before moving on to the next cork. If one falls off, just peel the glue off carefully and attach again with glue.
7. Do not put corks on the backside of the wreath (bottom) as this does not allow for the wreath to lay flat against the wall or to place on a table. Keep the back flat and cork free.
8. After one layer of corks is placed on the wreath, go back over and fill in any voids or spaces that may need a cork. Maybe crisscross some corks over others on the face of the wreath, or add another layer over the top. Wherever you feel another cork or two may be needed, go ahead and finish it as you see fit.
9. Your project is now complete and ready to be decorated. You can hang it on the wall with sturdy ribbon from a craft store, use as a table piece, or change out the color scheme for the holidays and use on your front door.