Put a cork in it

One of our favorite wineries is having a cork art contest - the winner gets wine club membership for a year!  Its worth entering, if just for that, but I also love a good reason to use up some of my collection of corks:

I made a memo/bulletin board and though its not perfect, I think its pretty sweet.  I even included a pic of some fun wine folk:

At that same winery of course!

I found a frame in the garage, gathered up the corks I wanted to use, and got a serrated knife and cutting board handy.  I also used a foam core board from Dollar Tree and my trusty hot glue gun.  Since I had everything but the board it cost me $1 total!

 

I started by boiling the corks for about 10 minutes, then keeping them hot as I cut them in half lengthwise, in batches.  The softer they are, the easier to cut without them crumbling.

The foam board was easy to cut and place into the frame.  But if I make another one someday, I would skip using the frame clips and just glue the board into the frame to make it sturdier.  As it was I had to place some duct tape on the back to reinforce it.

The contest rules say there has to be a minimum of 5 corks from that particular winery on your finished project.  I tried not to have more than that of any other winery we love - there were a TON of them from other Texas wineries, and a few from the grocery store.

The corks kept rising to the top of the pot of course, so I stirred them down every now and again to make sure they all stayed soaked.

After I cut them, I lay them out to make sure I liked the pattern  A couple of times I had to cut a cork to make it fit.  I figured it wouldn't be all that noticeable in the grand scheme of things.

 At this point I was making a giant mess of my kitchen!

 I love the stacked tile look of the corks.   Butting up against each other in a straight line was challenging.  If I do this craft again, I will lay every cork out before I glue any of them since they are all different lengths and widths.

I love the texture of the cork next to the black frame.  I added a little jute cord with tacks and more hot glue so the board could also be used without tacks.  Note: must get over to JoAnn Fabrics today and buy some pretty decorative tacks for it.  And maybe picture hangers for the back.

 Gratuitous thumbs up pic, as required by the winery!  (to prove you actually made it - ha!)  My homemade cork bulletin board will likely win no prize but will be fun to use.

 Silly photos notwithstanding.
Whatcha think?