Cork Wine Charms

I recently went to a bridal shower for my friend. At the shower they gave out etched wine glasses with wine charms as small favors. I thought it was a great idea.

Wine charms are a great way to differentiate glasses when there are a lot of people drinking the same thing out of similar glasses.

I chose to make my own set of wine charms for my next dinner party

Here is the supplies you will need to create your own wine charms

Wine Cork - Synthetic cork will work as well

Exacto Knife

Wire and small pliers

glue

Ink and Cool Stamps - or any other supplies you will need to decorate including beads, paint, markers, etc.

1. Cut your cork into 1/4" thick pieces - use your exacto knife to cut up the cork. If you used a used cork you will have the corkscrew hole in the middle. If this bothers you be sure to use an unused cork

The next step is to make the small loop (which i learned is called a bail) for your charm

1. Start with about 1.5" of wire

2. Bend .5" of the wire over to make a u shape in the wire.

3. Twist the wires together to create a small loop at one end. - make sure the twists of the wire take up as little space as possible

1. Stick the pointed end of the wire into the cork - you might need to drill a small pilot hole for this step. I did not and it took a little bit of time to work the wire into the cork. The wire loop should end up flush with the edge of the cork

2. Pull wire out put a little glue on the pointed end of the wire. - rubber cement works great for this

3. Put the wire back into the cork and let dry

The decoration for each one should be different so when on the glass people can differentiate their glass from others

1. Apply stamps to the cork - I have some great lettering stamps that I used for the stamping. You can also use shapes, colors, or really anything you want

To finish everything, I needed to make a hook to connect the charm to the wine glass stem

1. Cut a 3. 5" piece of wire

2. Bend wire into a shallow U shape - Do not make a complete circle with the wire because then there will be no way to connect the charm to the glass

3. Bend two small u shapes at each end of the wire - These u shapes are what the guests will connect together to keep the charm on the glass, but makes the charm easily removeable

4. String the metal hook onto your cork charm

Now you have a classy option to differentiate glasses at your next dinner party. I was very happy with the results and am ready to make more.

Enjoy!