Firstly.. I have to tell you how utterly excited I am about all of the craft/studio/art rooms shares we are going to have for next week! It's completely fantastic! So many of you have sent me pics, links, and stories about your special spaces! Keep 'em coming ladies! We are going to have one heck of a post next Wednesday that's for sure!
Today I have a little tutorial on how to make a wine cork wreath! I have been making these for a long long time... and I thought you guys might like to take a stab at one too!
What you need!
10" straw wreath (wrapped in fishing line or some sort of twine). Like this one HERE.
Glue gun (high temp for adults and low temp for kiddos).
Glue sticks (lots - I used 6 of the 10" long - high temp sticks).
Wine Corks (I used 180 for this project). Look on ebay.. there are folks who sell them in bulk if you cannot find them locally.
Vacuum (cause you are gonna need to clean up all that straw)
Twine or floral wire.
Let's get started!
First.. remove the plastic from your wreath (not the string that's keeping everything together ok!!!).
I know I told you not to take off the plastic last week... but that was only because I did not want you guys to have straw from one end of your house to the other before the big day!
Tie your twine or floral wire so that it wraps around the wreath but still has room for about 2 - 3 fingers to fit underneath.
You are going to want to cover the entire front of the wreath in corks laying side by side.
The best way to do this is with a long swath of hot glue down one side of the cork.
Line the corks up all nice and neat in a little row.
You are not going to want to go around the back side of the wreath - remember - it's going to be hanging on a wall so you want the backside to be flat.
You will get to a stubborn part where they do not line up like you want them to.
So you just have to tuck them in where you can... still trying as hard as you can to stay flat for this first layer.
BUT.. you prolly won't be able to and that's totally ok! hehehe.
What I am trying to demonstrate here is that you actually can go a little wild and crazy. Your goal with the first layer is to cover up as much of the straw as possible. Any way you can.
Here is some cork craziness.
...and here I am gluing the corks directly to the string I tied.
You do not need to do this... it's just something that happens as you are hot gluing along.
Make sure you leave some slack twine in the back.
See how the first layer is all coming together!
Once you get the first layer of corks on, the long strip of glue is no longer going to cut the mustard.
You want to glue the corks at random angles so that basically means you need some random (a.k.a..."creative") glue placement.
See what I mean. You want these little fellas staggered all over the place.
Here we are with a large dollop in the center so...
...we can balance that fella on top of one of the corks from the first layer.
I am just randomly placing the corks now. I kinda got a little pattern going on the second layer by accident but I was able to break up the pattern with just a few randomly placed corks.
Close-up of the second layer.
and viola...a finished wreath!
What I usually do before I get started is pick out all my special corks (the ones with the pretty pictures and designs on them) and save them for the second layer. If I have a lot of a particular kind of one cork - I usually use those as my base corks.
I made myself a large wreath that started with an 18" straw base. It came out to be about 22' total. I have that hanging in my kitchen (this picture here is of the small one I made for this tutorial).
I hope you enjoyed this little project share!! If you get a chance to make a cork wreath - I would love to see a pic (and then share it with everyone else!!).
HUGS for a happy weekend you guys!
P.S. If anyone lives in an area with birch trees and they happen to be trimming them or have some nice straight 1" limbs laying around (no longer than a foot)... I need one and will pay you for it! Just email me ok!
