Wine Cork Wine Charms

Wine charms can be really useful. Pop one on and you'll never forget which glass is yours. They can also be a great way to upcycle and or be creative. These particular wine charms were made as a birthday present for my mom, and are made with the wine corks that I forced her not to throw out. I used very simple tools for this, (siscors and a thick needle) so anyone can do it. So if you have some spare time, old wine corks that are just begging to be recycled, and a shortage of wine charms proceed to step 1.

You will need:
1) An old wine cork
2) A paperclip
3) A needle that is as think as the paperclip (I know that sounds weird, but so many needles aren't think enough for this)
4) Siscors or a knife (optional... BE CAREFUL THEY ARE SHARP!!!)
5) Permanent markers (optional)

Poke a hole through the cork with your needle. I suppose you could also drill a hole, but I had to make this in my room with the door shut so that no one would know what I was doing (it was a present remember) and if I had run a drill I'm pretty sure they would have noticed. So, position your needle on one side of the cork, make sure its straight otherwise it might push out the top. Flip onto its side so that the needle is touching whatever surface you're working on. CAREFULLY PUSH DOWN ON THE CORK! Remember the needle will come out the other side, so don't put your finger there. When you see the needle coming out the other side flip the cork over and push down again (this will make a tiny hole in the surface you're working on so make sure you don't do this on something you care a lot about) until the needle is flush with the cork. Pull the needle out. THIS WILL BE HARD! You may have to wiggle it around some but it should come out. REMEMBER NEEDLES ARE SHARP! If you're having trouble getting it out, put it aside and wait a while, if you keep trying while frustrated (trust me its aggravating) you will hurt yourself. So just put it down and walk away. Come back later and it'll pop right out.

Paper clips are the perfect length for fastening the charm to hte glass. All you have to do is unfold your clip and slide it through the hole you made in your cork. Bend the ends up and either a) you like it the way it is and want to keep it that way, or b) you're ready for the next step!

These are a great way to show your artistic ability, if you have any. If you do you car draw on these all you want, but for the artistically impaired (myself incleded) choose a simple pattern. For this one I decided to cut four squares out of the top (with my handy dandy siscors) and color them in with permanent marker. The only reason I picked this is because while sliding the paperclip through the hole I accidentally poked a perfectly square piece of cork out, so I'm using this design as a sort of cover up. To do this I just cut it like I would anything else, I made two parallel cuts on the top and just poked it out. I then colored them in.

You're done! To add to a glass all you have to do is position the charm so that the stem of the glass is between both ends of the paper clip. Wrap the ands around and you're done!!