I once was struck with the genius idea to make my mother’s birthday gift out of wine corks. This probably happened in the shower, where most good ideas come to be. I thought to myself, “How hard can drinking 100+ bottles of wine be?”.

Hard.

Between parties and girls’ night I think I drank 3 bottles before I caved and just stole corks from friends and family. It’s a good idea in theory, but trying to down enough wine by yourself to have the sheer number of corks you would need for crafting is, well, absurd.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that coasters were tiny enough to still get the wine-lover’s feel of using corks without having to slice open tons of those little suckers (warning: your hands will smell like cork and there will be debris everywhere after making these). Plus, coasters are practical and these are quite classy looking, methinks.

Want to make a set of your own for holiday entertaining or gift-giving? They’re easy-as-pumpkin-pie (assuming there’s any pie left after 30 ravenous family members have their go at it!)

You will need:

  • 8 corks per coaster (roughly – the design is up to you!)
  • glue gun
  • Exacto knife or other sharp cutting utensil
  • 4 cork board coasters (these are used for backing to glue the corks to; I opted for square, but you can use circular ones and just trim off any excess cork)

1. Slice your corks in half lengthwise. Careful not to cut yourself! Try to get the halves as even as possible, and the cut end as smooth as you can (don’t leave rough and uneven chunks of else the cork won’t lay as flat against the backing).

Note: I’ve tried boiling corks and other tactics to get them to slice cleanly, but with no luck. Maybe I’m just not doing it right, but the outcome wasn’t good enough for me to continue. If you find a way, please share!

2.ย Once your corks are cut, arrange them along the cork board backing in the pattern you want. I staggered these ones, but you could easily just repeat two corks vertically along the whole coaster or come up with another funky pattern! Maybe even cut the corks down further or into shapes if you’re feeling adventurous.

3.ย Glue those corks down! Repeat with your other corks until the coaster backing is covered. Trim up any uneven edges with your knife and voila!

I love how simple these were to make, and especially how nice they turned out! A touch of quirk and rustic charm, but timeless and classy at the same time. With the holidays coming up, these would make a lovely homemade gift for any wine-lover on your list!