in which we use many saved corks.

Here is an easy little gift-giving craft for this gift-giving season!

I must admit, however, this project will go the most smoothly if you:

1) have someone with a table saw who's willing to take a few minutes for you

(or, you know how to run a table saw yourself.  Personally, I'm scared to death of the table saw, which is how Jeff likes it.  Might have something to do with his removal of all guarding on all his tools.  hmm.)

2) you, or someone who's willing to share, have a lot of corks.  The bigger the "corkboard" you'd like to make, the more corks you'll need.  (well, obviously.)

Here's what we did:

Jeff and Greta cut a piece of plywood to fit in the space I wanted to pin things up.  He sanded the edges (or let Gret do that).  They laid out corks to estimate how many they'd need, then Jeff made a template to help him cut each cork the same size.  Each cork made 2 usable parts, with the center part to throw away:  he basically cut off the ends by the same amount and threw away the leftover center part.  NOTE:  you cannot use those lovely (weird) plastic corks for this project!

Next, I warmed up the hot glue gun.  Starting at one side, I'd lay a row of hot glue and the girls would quickly place the cut corks in a row.  I'd lay the next row of glue, and the girls would fit the corks in, not side by side, but fit next to them.  As corks are slightly different diameters, we'd shuffle them around a bit to make them fit.

We just worked our way across the plywood, laying row after row of corks, some with the cork end out, some with the cut side, which went quickly.  After a few minutes of letting it dry, Jeff used a little finishing nail to hang it on the cabinet side where I wanted it, to hold the bits and pieces that usually are clipped to the calendar.

You could also do this in a frame and glue the corks right to the board backing (removing the glass) and hang it on the wall or even prop it using the frame stand.  Wouldn't that be cute?!  There's lots of ways to play with this basic idea.
(We'd better have another glass of wine!...)  Cheers!