Corks, corks, and more corks. I put the word out to my friends that I wanted their corks. True, I had some, but you know how crafters are—we always need more, don’t we?
Corks started pouring in from all over. By all conclusions, the wine and champagne business must be prospering.
As I looked at my stash—and now it is a big stash, I decided to make Christmas ornaments and return them as gifts to my generous corky friends. What fun I had adding faces, wings, tissue, and all of those things that you keep for just such a project.
Looking through my holiday supply of embellishments, I found some tiny ornaments that I had purchased at the discount store. I found them in the “miniature” section of the holiday ornament display at a very reasonable price. The tiny resin ornaments provided the tops for my creations, as they already had the gold loops attached for hanging.
I experimented by drilling cavities in the corks and adding small charms as faces. Angels emerged from the cork, complete with wings made from foil and discarded DVD discs. I painted, stamped, foiled, beaded, and colored with my leafing pen. Most of my embellishments were leftovers from other projects.
Working with cork is very easy. It cuts easily, holds ink well, and provides a small enough canvas to keep you interested while embellishing it. Most adhesives take to it fine. Cork is lightweight and impermeable to liquids. It is extremely flexible. It can be compressed and restored to its original size, which makes it an ideal stopper for wine. It is also fire resistant, durable and can be used as an insulator. It is environmentally friendly. Totally natural, it is fully recyclable and biodegradable.
Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak—Quercus Suber. It has grown in the western Mediterranean for thousands of years. More than half of the world’s cork supply comes from Portugal.
Other ideas for using cork include covering it with sequins as another kind of ornament (using small pins to hold the sequins in place), making wearable art using the cork as a base for other embellishments, or cutting it and using the pieces as a base for beads or as a body for an art doll.
I hope you find inspiration with this corky project.
Happy Holidays to all of our loyal readers!
