Have seen them glued/attached to a piece of wood and just used as a wall decoration. Don't have a photo of the one I made years ago, but it was totally covered with corks. Corks were in rows touching each other and it looked pretty sharp. I had seen one in an Italian restaurant used as part of the decor, so I made one.

Just a thought - anybody else?

WINE CORK ORNAMENTS

MATERIALS:
Wine corks
Thin ribbon
Tassles
Decorative beads (with large holes)
Long darning needle
Scissors
Drill
Glue

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Carefully drill a hole through the center of the cork lengthwise using a small bit drill.

2. Slide one or more decorative beads over the loop of the tassle.

3. Cut approximately 1 foot of ribbon and slip one end into the tassle loop (above the beads) then bring ends of ribbon together.

4. Thread the ribbon (now attached to the tassle) through the darning needle and bring up through the center of the cork then pull till the beads and tassle are in contact with the cork.

5. Slip one or more decorative beads over the ribbon then knot the ribbon several inches up leaving a loop to hang from Christmas tree branch.

6. Cut excess ribbon above the knot and use Fray Check (available at Joann.com) to prevent ribbon from fraying. You may also carefully use a lighter or match to slightly singe the ends of the ribbon to prevent fraying.

7. Glue the beads to the top and bottom of the cork to ensure they remain centered and in place.

NOTE: This craft also makes a lovely decoration to hang on the neck of a bottle of wine. Follow the instructions as above, except use 2 feet of ribbon so the ornament will hang nicely on the bottle of wine.

My husband owns a restaurant and has been saving all of his corks from the past nine years. We are going to plant a garden in the back of the restaurant next year, so we'll be using the corks as a mulch. So if this idea appeals to you, start drinking way more wine. lol

Wow, thanks! Kelly, I'm not sure I'll ever have enough for mulch, but what an idea. Barb, the ornament idea is so cool...thanks for the instructions. I was wondering about wine cork ornaments. I got an idea from a friend about a wine-themed Christmas tree,so after Xmas, I found many grape/wine ornaments on clearance. I plan on buying some purple lights, probably at Halloween, and your ornaments will be the piece de resistance! I also like the idea of hanging a n ornament around the neck of a gift bottle.

Seeing the ornament idea reminded of the lamp I saw, they put one on top of a lamp as a finial. Looked very good, as the theme of the lamp worked with it.

You can glue them together or back them with something to make a pad for hot dishes. You can paint or decorate them however you'd like. I've seen them make into a bunch of grapes that was very pretty.

Nancy

Just saw on HGTV Decorating Cents a framed cork board. Tried putting a link to it in and didn't work :(
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/decorating/article/0,,HGTV_3545_1390861,00.html
So...the show is DCT1311 not sure what I did wrong cutting and pasting?
It looked really neat on television.

I like the corkboard idea. My neighbor saved a bunch of theirs and framed their intercom panels in the kitchen with a few inches of corks and then wood moulding to frame it. Lovely and quite practical!

Won't cork mulch float away in the rain?

I can't remember where I saw it, but someone took a beautiful ornate jar and filled it with corks and then displayed it in their kitchen..It was beautiful!!

Saw an idea in a magazine tonight where a couple saved all the corks from the wine they drank during courtship, marriage, etc. They wrote the date and occasion on each cork and had all of them displayed in an old wooden bowl - looked neat.

You can also make reindeer ornaments from them.
Kathi

Love the ornament idea! I've been tossing all of our corks into a large glass jar on the kitchen shelf, but it's almost full now. I'd like to make trivets out of them - do you all think a hot glue gun would work to glue the corks together? I'm kind of concerned about the glue getting soft if a hot pan is put on it.

Becky
Lompoc, CA (in Santa Barbara County Wine Country LOL)

Glued them around a 5x7 picture frame - decorated with rafia & grapes & small leafy vines - sells great! made one for my boss (who is an attorney and drinks alot of wine) for his mantle in his office - even he liked it!
tammy_crafter

I too have a lot of corks! ( everyone saves them for me) I have made a corkboard tree ornaments and a wreath out of them. The wreaths are very pretty, I use hot glue on a styrofoam mold and use the yucky plastic corks on the bottom.
I want to cover a table with them someday.
But I just like to be able to save them from the garbage too. They will someday be gone and replaced with plastic like most things.
Have fun.
(google cork crafts for a gizillion more ideas too)
Lori

Here is a link that might be useful: Wine cork wreath

Duh, wrong link.
Here is the correct link.

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/crafts/wreaths/cork/winecorkwreath.html

Here is a link that might be useful: wreath

My niece just did her kitchen in moracian (sp?) with the grapes and wine bottles, and the most beautiful terricota walls, She took corks and we threaded them on fishing string. In between we but wooden beads, then we hung them on half of her sliding door and tied them back with a brown tassle with grapes attached to them.

These are not wine corks but THey look like it and you could us wine corks for these projects. You could use grape or some other sort of folage instead of the christmas theme.

Here's a link to Wine Cork Ornaments

Here is a link that might be useful: WINE CORK ORNAMENTS

I just saw a keychain made with a cork yesterday and thought of this post. The one I saw had 2 eye screws on each end. One side held the key ring, the other had some beaded things hanging from it. Looked pretty sweet. Here is a link to a similar one. Looks like they will take your extra cork donations too. :) ~Anj

Here is a link that might be useful: CorKey

I want to thank all contributors to this topic, and to add my two cents on using wine corks. The first is the cork hot-pad.

I made mine by drilling holes in the corks, both ways, side to side and up and down. Then I used heavy duty nylon deep-sea fishing line (I got mine at a fishing supply shop, but I don't know the test) and a large sailmaker's sewing needle to sew the corks together side to side and then up and down. I like the hotpad because it's flexible and won't scratch the table. I built in a handle so it hangs as part of our kitchen decoration.

The second item is this cool cork horse ornament. I don't know where we got it, but my wife's a teacher and one of her students may have given it to her. I haven't made one yet, but it looks pretty easy. The corks are joined with hot glue. The neck is a cork cut in half at about a 60 degree angle, I would guess. The mane and tail are some sort of black polyester hair (craft people would know what this is) and the ears are black felt. The eyes look like small dollops of shiny black glue, or they may be push pins. All in all, it's a great Christmas ornament and a good project for kids to make for gifts.

(I would have inserted photos if I knew how).

Place card holders.

Glue 2 of them together, side by side, by placing a dab of glue near the bottom. This leaves a groove at the top to insert the place card.

They can be recycled into new cork products. This program is in Canada, but I'm seriously considering bagging up my corks and just mailing them there, or possibly taking them into one of their retail stores.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bag-a-Cork program

I recently made a cork wreath. This was 10 years of saving corks, collecting from our local restaurant and friends. We figured if you think that each cork represents the average of $10 worth of wine... it took 1,000 corks to make this... that represents $10,000 of wine!!! Glad I didn't spend that to get them all!

I made it on a straw wreath and glued one end of a nail into the cork and stuck the other end (with a dip in glue first) into the wreath. I hung it with hemp cord and covered the nail with a champaigne cork.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This is an answer to all of my corks! DH has been a bartender at an upscale restaurant for 7 years now- and they specialize in their wines. We've been together for 4 year and oh the bags of wine corks I have sold, traded, and still have.
Mary Ruth- I love your wreath it is absolutely beautiful.
I like the Cor-key chains, too. They look easy enough to make. I guess I have another project I can start. I probably have over 500 corks and access to many more- oh the possibilities!

I have alot of corks and was wondering if there are any patterns for putting the corks on a board and making a clock of it.

thanks Penny

"1,000 corks to make this... that represents $10,000 of wine!!" hahaha - loved that

I did a post on corks/bottle stoppers with vintage collectibles -tops, crystal knobs, etc. This might be of interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: D.I.Y. : ADD-A-CORK To Create Wine or Bottle Stoppers From Old Crystal Knobs, Billiard Balls, Finials

alass - great article and thanks for the links!

Take a look at this wine cork baseboard
Judy

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I was going through old posts on Garden Junk forum just now & Hit on couple. Go to 61 at bottom of the list that is up now click on the 61 & then look for post "Wine cork trivet" for beautiful one made by Kirkus. Then someone else mentioned go to gardenjunk.org & 2007 San Fransisco Flower & Garden Show They said there were great artworks done with corks, steppings stones was only 1 they mentioned. Kirkus mentioned he was making a birdhouse with them next. Jan

Love this thread. I had been saving corks for years for a big project. My, then, new rat terrier found the stash and ate them all. Good times. I haven't really saved many since. Some of the smaller ornaments are really cute though, and the larger projects inspiring. Thanks for sharing everyone.

My idea for used wine corks, is to make a fly curtain from them. String door lengths of them together, and then hang them from a piece of wood. You can decorate them (If you have the time), or just leave them natural.

I did this for my wedding. We drilled holes through the wine corks and put ribbon through them for napkin holders!! With cute ribbon and a solid color napkin it looks adorable. I also took one of those full length mirrors you get at walmart or something and hot glued wine corks slanted every other way around the trim. My brother made a decal that says "when your here you're family" on the mirror part and hung it on my wall in the living room. I get tons of compliments on it!! Hope that helps

allison, I would love to see a picture of your mirror. Sounds like it might be just what I'm looking for in our basement family room. I like the idea of using the corks I've been saving.

Try this site:

http://lovemyearth.blogspot.com/2007/05/crazy-for-corks.html

My parents neighbors had a really neat wall decoration in the shape of a fish, but made entirely of wine corks. I have been scouring the internet to find out how to do this. It is the perfect father's day gift!!

Anyone know??

My parents neighbors had a really neat wall decoration in the shape of a fish, but made entirely of wine corks. I have been scouring the internet to find out how to do this. It is the perfect father's day gift!!

Anyone know??

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR HAS MADE A TABLE OF CORKS? I HAVE A LOT OF CORKS AND I THINK IT WOULD BE A GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE. IVE MADE TRIVETS AND FISHING ORNAMENTS AND THEY WERE A GREAT HIT.

Cork bathmat at http://www.craftynest.com/2010/03/wine-cork-bath-mat/ (Scroll down the page)

I also saw a birdhouse made with them which I really thought was cute at http://theartofthers.blogspot.com/ (Scroll down the page)

If neither of those links work after copying and pasting them, just do a Google Image Search for "trash to treasure cork bathmat" and "trash to treasure cork birdhouse." :)

Alicia

Everyone will probably think I fell off the ceiling,but here is my thought Ive been running around in my head for some time.
I have thoese terrible blown on flek ceilings. I di one ceiling in pine wood. I really lik it but dont want the whole house done in it. So would it work to use corks in the kitchen? Glue them on with hot glue. I know it would take a millon of them

I think you might want to cut them in half first. If the ceiling is too textured sticking could be aproblem. I think it would be difficult to do (painful) Good luck and post a pic if you do it.
Kathy

If I was doing a ceiling, I would get some thin plywood sheets, glue to corks to them, then screw them to the ceiling, rather than trying to stick corks up there one by one like Michelangelo doing a cork version of the Sistine Chapel. It sounds cool though!

I've cut them in half using a bandsaw. Clamp a piece of PVC pipe just bigger than the corks, to the saw table, with the blade centered on the outlet of the pipe. Shove corks into it and halves come out the other end.

"I've cut them in half using a bandsaw. Clamp a piece of PVC pipe just bigger than the corks, to the saw table, with the blade centered on the outlet of the pipe. Shove corks into it and halves come out the other end."

What a good idea! I bet that would work to cut those round wooden balls in half, too. Thanks toxcrusadr!

Rusty

Just browsing thru, but saw this.
I probably have a couple hundred corks. If you're in the Washington, DC area and want them, drop me a line.
Christine