Wine Cork Wall Hanging

I have been collecting wine corks for years! I figured - one day I will think of something to do with all of them. That ‘one day’ came and I decided I wanted to create a wall decoration using my corks. I searched for inspiration online and came up with a design that was pretty close to what I wanted. I specifically wanted to highlight a certain collection of corks I had collected, by ’19 Crimes’ wine. On each of the ’19 Crimes’ corks, there is a printed out ‘crime’. They had 19 crimes of course, and I had collected the corks until I finally had all 19. I wanted to have the text on the corks be highlighted somehow in my design. (Below is a little explanation about 19 Crimes Wine Corks)

The 19 Crimes Story:

These 19 crimes include larceny, theft and property damage, and they resulted in the creation of an entirely new country years later. Nineteen crimes turned criminals into colonists. Upon conviction British rogues guilty of a least one of the 19 crimes were sentenced to live in Australia, rather than death. This punishment by "transportation" began in 1783 and many of the lawless died at sea. For the rough-hewn prisoners who made it to shore, a new world awaited. As pioneers in a frontier penal colony, they forged a new country and new lives, brick by brick. This wine celebrates the rules they broke and the culture they built.

1. Interesting Wine Corks
2. Hot Glue Gun w/Glue
3. A wooden board the size you want hanging to be
4. Narrow wood pieces for a frame
5. Carpet Cutter
6. Rit Dye (optional) and pot of water to dye in
7. Another pot of water to soften the corks
8. Masking Tape

I started with an old piece of thin wood we had laying around in the garage. I then penciled onto it the design I wanted to create, incorporating a huge ‘arc’ that would show off all the crime corks. I then started laying out the corks trying different variations to fill in the design I drew. When I finally decided on how I would do it, I could see I needed some variation in the cork colors to give sections contrast, as it would bring out the design lines. So I separated out all my corks by color (light and dark) and those that had interesting designs or logos on them. Some corks had the logo on the top, some on the sides. 

In order to have the corks be attached to the board I needed them to have a flat side, so I cut some in half vertically with a carpet cutter, and some I cut horizontally to have a variety of either blank rounds, or rounds that had a logo on the top. 

The best way to cut the corks is to soften them first. Fill a pan ½ way with water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and drop corks into water. Put the lid on and let them steam for 1-3 minutes.Test to see if they are soft by squeezing them. When soft, remove from the water and cut them with a box cutter. 

I still needed more contrast, so I decided to dye some of the corks to give the design color and contrast. I used some Rit Dye in a few different shades – Dk Green and Dk Red.  I brought a pot of water to a boil, added about ½ bottle of rit dye and then removed from heat. I added the corks and let soak for about 15 minutes then tested the result/depth of color on the corks. When dark enough, I took them out and laid them on some paper towels to dry.

Now came the fun part! Once the corks were cut and dyed, I laid them on the board section by section. I also decided I wanted to have the center circle really stand out, so this is where I would put the dk red corks. I painted a large circle in the same shade of red directly on the board, in case some of the board showed through between the corks. I did the same thing, painting the background of where I wanted the large leaves, in black, and this section would be outlined in the green corks. Next time, I might cut the corks before dying them, so the dye evenly penetrated on all sides. No prob... I touched up any bare areas with a marker.

Once I got the sections painted onto the board, I just started filling in with my corks, hot gluing and trimming as I went along. I first outlined the sections and then filled them in. 

The leaves were a little tricky, so I made a template using a piece of card stock paper. I had already glued the outline of the leaf, so I pressing in a piece of paper to get the exact shape I needed. Then I taping a group of corks together, top and bottom both, to hold them together snuggly. Then with a marker I traced the shape of the leaf and then cut out the pattern in the proper shape. Once it was cut, I was able to simply remove the tape and insert them into the design with all the angles perfectly cut.

From there I just kept laying out, trimming and gluing corks to fill everything in. The scraps of cork I had trimmed where perfect for ‘fill-ins’ as I went along to make everything fit nice and snug. Once the main design elements where glued on, I went in and filled in the entire board with corks so none of the backboard showed through. 

The large center ‘swish’ is where I used all the 19 Crime corks and you can read each one in order (I'm a bit anal that way. ) 🤷🏻‍♀️

With the help of my husband, we used some narrow boards we had - again laying around in the garage - to make a frame around the entire piece. And finally, I attached my metal logo to the bottom as my signature. I hung up my masterpiece and enjoy it whenever I walk into my kitchen!

Cheers!