As a craft supply hoarder, I have an odd collection of materials in my art studio. One thing I have a lot of is wine corks. (Don’t ask me why I have so many of them.) If, like me, you have a stash of corks just waiting for a purpose in life, here’s a project that will use them up in a stylish way — a cork trivet. If you don’t happen to have a jar full of wine corks, you can purchase them in bulk on Amazon.
Corks work really well for trivets because they don’t transfer heat. And their soft, cushioned surface won’t scratch tabletops. By hot gluing corks together, you can create any configuration you wish. I took on the challenge of making a trivet in the shape of a Star of David. Fortunately, all those math classes I took in high school and college paid off, as I was able to figure out the geometry of the pattern in a way that made assembling it foolproof.
Besides using this trivet to hold pots, pans and serving ware, you can hang it as a wreath or bulletin board. Really, you just can’t cork up the creative possibilities.
What you’ll need:
54 wine corks
Hot glue
1. Line up 10 corks in a row on their side. Apply a line of hot glue between each cork.
2. On the far left and far right of the row of corks, stack a triangle of six corks. Hot glue them together so each adjacent cork is connected with glue.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2, lining up 10 corks but stacking only five corks on the left and right side, i.e., a triangle with the top cork missing.
4. Join together the two cork sections by inserting the six-cork triangles into the five-cork triangles. Hot glue them together.
5. Stand the cork configuration upright. It will look like a bridge. In the center of the top row, stack a triangle of six corks and hot glue them together.
6. Place the configuration on its side again, and hot glue a triangle of six corks to the bottom row.
Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.
