Friday 13 March 2009

Uses for old/used wine bottle corks... a Corking Idea?










The wine growers or bottlers names and trademarks on wine bottle corks are often a work of art, and as I hate to throw things away, I collect and reuse them wherever possible. Corks are perfect for protecting the points of sharp objects, pins, knives etc from damage or accidental personal contact, but there are other uses, for instance:

If you have any Champagne / Cava / sparkling wine corks then simply cut a slit in the top and they can be used as a place-name holder. The other place name holder uses four corks, two corks glued side to side on the lower half and glued top to bottom on the upper half so leaving a space between them for the place name.

The seed holder and spreader (I find it so much easier to just tap them out evenly rather than using my fingers) is simply a piece of old plastic pipe, cut to shape at the business end with a cork to close off the open other end. The workshop door stop, which became necessary when I changed an inward opening door for an outward opening, is simply a cork nailed to the woodwork with pin nails, small headless nails that are driven a little into the cork so they do not protrude and mark the door.

Corks make a great sanding block for small areas and tight curves, simply wrap or glue sandpaper around one. If you get fed up with having to look for the oven gloves when you are using something on the cooker, then as you can see, the corks makes a perfect insulation. If you don’t have those kitchen cabinet doors that close on their own but are fed up with the bang when yours do, then simply cut a thin slice from a cork, a kitchen knife will do this, and glue it to the inside of the door, this cuts the noise down a lot.

Double left click to see the images in greater detail.

I could go on, but I am sure you have ideas of your own.

To see what others are doing click HERE.

6 comments:

Gill - That British Woman said...

great ideas......

Gill in Canada

Margaret's Ramblings said...

A friend made a memmory board using the corks that were used at her wedding. Great way to remember an important day and reuse instead of landfill.

Margaret

Unknown said...

We have several ideas on Junkk.com for corks, but there are some great new ones here.

Please feel free to share them and get the credit!

Almost Mrs Average said...

Wow that's a corking idea Peter and the reason why you've got a special award waiting over at my Rubbish blog, as have Gill and Margaret and the other Peter LOL....hope you enjoy.

Kati said...

Some fantastic ideas, Peter!!! Makes me kinda wish I consumed a better quality of wine, so I'd get corks to use around the house. (But, my tastebuds are rather unrefined and like highly sweetened and fruity-flavored wines that come in cheap, aluminum-capped bottles. *wink*)

Anonymous said...

I have a large bag of corks, Does anybody want them, it seems a pity to throe them away

from Alan Australia
alanf@tadaust.org.au