Wine Cork Wreath

With years of wine corks saved up we finally got around to doing something with them, and it turned out great! In previous cork projects, we've made coasters and trivets, so we wanted to do something different.  We decided to make a wreath and so we looked around on a couple sites to figure out the best way to approach it.  Using a styrofoam wreath (purchased from Michael's) and some sturdy party toothpicks inserted into the corks seemed to be the best way.  We did secure a couple corks that seemed loose with a glue gun to make sure they wouldn't fall out.  While our fingers felt like they were going to fall off after sticking the toothpicks in over 200 corks, it was worth it in the end.  Now... we just have to figure out how to hang it!  This wreath is seasonal-friendly so we'll try to dress it up with different accessories throughout the year.

Supplies:
Styrofoam wreath (we did a 14 inch wreath, but smaller would be fine too)
Corks - we used approx 225-250 
Toothpicks - sturdy and round with pointed tips
Pliers - optional, to help with inserting toothpicks
Glue Gun- optional, to secure loose toothpicks

Directions:
Begin by inserting toothpicks in the corks.  Insert them into the side you do not want to show on your wreath.  For the corks that came from red wine, we always put the toothpick through the top of the cork so the bottom with the reddish color would show on the wreath.  Try to get at least 1/4 of the toothpick in the cork so it feels secure enough that it won't fall out.  

When you start to put the toothpicks in the wreath, lay the wreath flat and do an inner and outer ring as seen in the picture.  These corks won't be as visible in the final product, so use the less pretty ones first. (Of course the cats had to get involved)

Next, begin to insert the rest of the corks to fill in the wreath.  Don't follow a particular pattern and insert the corks at various angles so all the gaps are covered.  Leave some corks sticking out further than others.  Continue this until the wreath is full of corks.  

Check for any loose feeling corks that might need to be glued down.  Use as a centerpiece like we did with a candle in the middle, or hang from your door with ribbon or string.  I'll update this post once we have ours hanged.