For wine enthusiasts, emptying all those bottles brings a secondary pleasure: the myriad ways to reuse wine corks around the house. One of our favorites is this easy DIY that transforms a regular vase and a pile of leftover corks into a beautiful rustic recycled vase.
It’s a simple project that involves covering the vase with wine corks—which also means it doesn’t have to be a traditional glass container. There are a variety of common household items you can repurpose as a lovely decorative vase, such as glass jars, empty soup cans, or even an empty wine bottle. Bonus: two recycling projects for the effort of one!
All you need for this project is a pile of corks, a hot glue gun, and your container. Depending on your design, you may need to cut your corks, which can be a bit tricky. The solution? Steam them. Place your corks in a steamer over boiling water for a few minutes, and they should cut much more easily. Ultimately, you’re simply gluing corks to a vase or another container, but the creative magic happens in the layout.
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How to make a cork vase
The uncomplicated nature of this project really makes customization the star. For the basic design, simply run a line of glue along the edge of the corks and stick them around the bottom edge of the vase. Then do the same with the next row up, offsetting the corks as if building with bricks.
Continue to the top edge of your container, and you’ll have your vase. Get creative by playing with the tapestry of colors inherently available in a collection. Perhaps use the darker ones at the bottom for an ombre effect or use the lighter ones as edging pieces around an interesting design.
Changing the pattern will add a bit of personality, and the shape of your container can help guide you. For example, if you have a square vase, arrange the corks in a horizontal stack, one on top of the other, from the base to the edge on each side of the vase. Apply them vertically to cover the corners. Or glue them all vertically. Alternatively, gluing with the ends attached to the vase or container (instead of the sides) will create a kind of starburst effect.
Once all your corks are glued to the container, add a bit of whimsy with embellishments like ribbon or string wrapped and tied around the center. Glue buttons or beads to the bow to complete the look. Finally, fill the vase with flowers for a lovely display or use your cork-covered container as another fun way to repurpose vases around the house.
Source: HouseDigest. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
