Wine Cork Pirate Ship

For this project, I wanted to make a easy but detailed miniature pirate ship with materials I already had.

Since the ship's body is carved out of wine cork, it can float on water.

Supplies:

• Wine cork
• Toothpicks
• Sharpie/permanent marker
• Paper
• Elmer's or other liquid school glue
• Wood glue or superglue
• Gold foil (Optional; you could use a paint pen or other decorations instead)
• Cardstock
• A bowl full of water (to check that your boat floats)

Tools:

• Craft knife or boxcutter
• Scissors
• Hole punch (optional)

The first step is carving out the body of the ship from the cork. I used a permanent marker to draw guidelines of where I wanted to cut.

If you want your final product to float, check the cork periodically in a dish of water as you carve. A wider base tends to float better and is less likely to tip over.

Be careful when using sharp tools like craft knives or boxcutters!

This pirate ship isn't 100% historically accurate. Real ships have lots of complicated rigging, which I simplified for the sake of this project.

I stuck toothpicks into the cork for the masts.

For the sails, I crumpled up some regular printer paper so it had a softer texture and then I used school glue to stick it onto some supporting toothpicks. To attach those sails/support beams to the masts, use wood glue or superglue.

Now is another good time to see if your boat floats! The weight of the masts and sails might throw off the balance.

The last step before the pirate decorations is to add some portholes and other details with a brown Sharpie or other permanent marker.

1. I constructed a pirate flag in a similar manner to the sails. On the flag, I drew a little Jolly Roger. I glued it above the larger of the two sails.
2. Using a golden candy wrapper cut into strips, I added gilded details around the ship. These I glued on using regular school glue.
3. I used a hole punch to cut a circle from some cardstock, then drew a tiny steering wheel and glued it to one of the masts.

You're all done! Time to sail away into a new adventure.

Thanks for reading!