How to Make a Wine Cork Pumpkin

Like wine? Have corks? No idea what to do with them all? You can definitely collect your wine corks in a glass jar, cool basket, or special holder made just for wine corks, but chances are at some point you’re going to fill whatever repository you’re using and then what? There are many things you can make with wine corks, including wreaths, candle holders and trivets. Here’s a wine cork craft designed specially for fall that’s pretty easy and inexpensive, too.

Materials:

• 25 wine corks (24 for the body and 1 for the stem). Use actual cork, not plastic because it won’t take the ink
• An orange ink stamp pad
• A piece of green craft or scrapbook paper
• A 2”-3” pumpkin leaf template printed from online
• One 18” piece of paper-coated floral wire, dark brown (if you can’t find dark brown you can use green and color it with a dark brown marker)
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Scissors
• A utility knife

Instructions:

1. Cut out your leaf template with scissors. Trace two leaves on the back of your green craft paper and cut them out. Set aside.
2. Choose one cork to be the stem of your pumpkin and using your utility knife carefully cut 1/3 of the cork off, turning the cork as you press down and cut.
3. Take the floral wire and wind it around the base of your stem cork 2-3 times. Bend the remaining wire out and wind it around a magic marker or something of the same thickness. Remove the marker. Remove the cork from the wire and set both aside.

4. Take the remaining 24 corks and choose which end of each you’re going to press into the ink. If using red wine corks you’ll likely use the non-wine stained end. White wine corks shouldn’t matter so just choose the nicest end.

5. Press the end of each cork into the stamp pad several times and set aside, inked end up. Allow to dry for several hours or overnight.

6. Spread some newspaper or craft paper on your work surface and heat up your glue gun.

7. Using the glue gun, run a line of glue down the length of one cork, starting slightly in from the end of the cork and ending slightly before you get to the other end. Take another cork and making sure the orange ends are facing the same direction, stick it to the glue on the first cork. Make sure the orange ends are even and press together. Glue 2 more corks to the first two, making a row of 4. It’s okay if the back end of the corks don’t line up, you’re concerned with the front (orange) ends.

8. Repeating the process, make another row of 4 corks, then two rows of 5 corks, and finally a row of 6 corks.

9. Take one of your rows of 4 corks and place it with the orange side facing forward. Take a row of 5 corks and center it on top of the row of 4. Note where the two come in contact because that’s where you’ll put your lines of glue. Lift off the row of 5, make lines of glue on the row of 4 in the appropriate spots and stick the row of 5 to the row of 4. Again, make sure the orange ends are even and press together carefully but firmly.

10. Repeat the process with the row of 6 on top of the row of 5, then the remaining row of 5 on top of that, and finally the remaining row of 4. Carefully give the whole thing a good squeeze-together.

11. Take your stem cork and glue it to the top of your pumpkin in the center. Slide the wound end of the floral wire down over the stem cork and secure in place with a small amount of glue, if necessary.

12. Glue the pumpkin leaves near the base of the stem on either side (front and back) of the pumpkin, using them to hide any imperfections, if necessary.

Now, place your adorable wine cork pumpkin in a place of honor in your home and enjoy until it’s time to get those Christmas, Hanukah or Kwanza decorations out!