Plant labels
South Africa is a wine-loving nation – and it is understandable why – some of the best wines in the world originate from our fair shores.
The main attraction of course, is drinking the wine, but with a little effort and creativity, you can get a lot of enjoyment from reusing the wine corks and transforming them into useful items for around your home.
Here are a few easy projects that will get you started:
Plant tags
These plant labels are exceptionally easy to make and they serve a very practical purpose for any vegetable or herb garden. Simply insert a wooden skewer into the bottom-end of the cork, and using a permanent marker, write the name of the particular herb or vegetable onto the cork. Insert the skewer directly into the ground and voila – a cost-effective, quick and simple solution to help you better organise your veggie patch!
Key chain
Cork key chain
This is a great idea for labelling the individual keys for the various doors throughout your home. Simply screw a hook-eye screw into the one side of the cork, and then thread a key ring into the hook-eye screw.
To label which doors belong to which keys, use a permanent marker and write the name of the door directly onto the screw.
A cork pinboard
Purchase a large wooden frame and remove the glass, leaving just the backboard. Cut a collection of corks in half and, using a hot glue gun, glue them down directly onto the backboard so that they cover the entire section of the backboard that shows through the frame. Leave to dry and hang up.
Cork pinboard
Jewellery storage
This is a very unique and practical solution for storing your everyday jewellery. Purchase a frame, remove the glass, and paint the backboard with black enamel paint. Take a few corks and cut them each into three sections to form circle-shaped pieces.
Using a hot glue gun, glue these circles down in rows – they will be used to store your earrings. Then for your necklaces, take two full-sized corks and glue down one of their flat sides at the top-end of the backboard to create ample hanging space. Hang the frame up onto a wall or the back of your cupboard door.
Jewellery storage
Cork bath mat
Buy a piece of rubber non-slip carpet backing and cut it to the size you would like your bath mat to be. Cut a collection of corks in half and then arrange them onto the non-slip carpet backing.
Once the matting is full, start gluing the half corks down using a hot glue gun. Leave to dry overnight and you will have a very practical and beautiful waterproof bath mat.
Cork art
You can use corks to create any number of attractive art features – from letters such as the “K” featured here, to bold shapes, such as hearts, stars and so on.
Cork bath mat
It is really simple to make these interesting features. To start, trace the shape or letter you want onto a thin piece of wooden board and cut it out. You can use any kind of wooden board, from MDF to solid Pine; it doesn’t really matter, as you won’t really see it once the piece is complete.
Then, using a hot glue gun, start gluing the corks in place so that they fill up the entire shape. Start from one side and slowly make your way to the other side, until the shape is completely made out of wine corks. Pack them tightly together and try and avoid leaving any gaps in the shape at all.
- Antonella Desi
Cork art
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