wine cork trivet & board

inspired by this feature, i took a new approach to using leftover wine corks. below are two tutorials for using sliced discs of wine cork & you can find images here.

the cork trivet - this project was much more tedious than i had expected. slicing the cork was not an easy task. i ended up using a standard chef's knife to cut the cork & found that it wasn't that bad. once i had them sliced, my hands were kind of sore & pushing the needle through was not simple. i gave up, sat back & drank wine while natalie made dinner. a couple weeks later (yesterday) i decided to try again.

what you need:
leftover wine corks (5 or 6)
sharp knife
sewing needle
thread
hammer
wire brad or nail
mod podge

instructions:
1. using your knife, cut the corks into 1/4" discs
2. using a nail & hammer, create 2 holes on opposite ends of the discs for ease of threading.
3. thread your needle & tie a large knot at the end
4. thread 6 discs into a hexagon. the first thread should come up from the bottom of disc 1 & down through disc 2, up through the opposite side of disc 2 & down through disc 3. this continues on until you have a complete shape, coming down through the open end of disc 1.
5. move on to add the second hexagon by coming up through disc 7 & threading through another 6 discs. add the third hexagon in the similar fashion.
5. now that you have 3 hexagons threaded into one shape, you'll add the connecting discs. starting with new thread, come up through the a new spot on disc 2, down through disc a, back up the opposite end of disc a, down through disc b & finally back down disc 8. tie off the end.
6. continue to do that for the other 2 openings.
7. carefully flip the discs over onto a protective surface. apply a small amount of mod podge or adhesive to create a more stable base.
8. let dry for 2 hours.


















helpful tips:
1. the nail holes will be hard to find, but definitely easier on your hands
2.make sure to carefully pull thread to create the right tension after each hexagon. this is really touchy, so make small pulls.
3. use a piece of wood or wax paper as the protective surface when applying the mod podge as paper may adhere to the cork & thread.















the refrigerator cork board - this one is very simple, especially if you have leftover cork discs.

what you need:
leftover cork discs (wine corks & chef's knife)
hot glue gun & glue
small sheet (8" x 5") of galvanized steel (available at home depot)
strong magnet or magnet strips

instructions:
1. heat up glue gun
2. apply small amount of glue on bottom of a disc & place in the top left corner of the panel
3. continue placing the discs snug to each other in a row, the second row will lie in between each disc in the first row & so on. i made 5 rows of cork, for a half & half magnet & cork board.
4. adhere the magnet to the back of the steel panel using hot glue unless you have self adhesive magnet strips.

UDPATE - abigail's full tutorial here