DIY Cork Wreath + How to Recycle Wine Corks

Blog Post

Looking for a special holiday project to craft this season? Do you have a collection of wine corks you want to recycle? Or are you looking for the perfect DIY holiday decoration to showcase your favorite wines? If so, we’ve made this simple tutorial on how to make a DIY wine cork wreath, just for you. Get started with the steps below.

How Many Wine Corks Do You Need to Make a Wreath?

For this DIY wine cork wreath, we’d recommend using between 200 and 250 wine corks. These can include a collection from all your favorite labels and you can use both synthetic and natural cork if needed. We don’t recommend using champagne or other sparkling wine corks, however, due to their unique shape.

Note that if you don’t have enough wine corks lying around, you can call your friends or a local winery and ask if they have any extras they’d be willing to donate.

How to Make a Cork Wreath

Ready to start crafting? Just follow the simple instructions below:

1. Find your cork wreath supplies.

For this cork wreath project, we recommend the following supplies:

• ~250 wine corks
• 18″ straw wreath base
• Glue gun + hot glue
• Small wire (to secure ribbon)
• Burlap ribbon
• Box of toothpicks (optional)

2. Prepare the wreath base.

Secure burlap ribbon all the way around your straw wreath base with hot glue. Allow time for the base to completely dry.

3. Begin glueing corks.

Glue wine corks one at a time in a line along the wreath base. Make sure to hold them in place as they dry (or use toothpicks to help keep them in place), to ensure they stick completely. Glue corks end to end, in a slightly diagonal line. Repeat with the next line, but stagger corks from the previous line.

Do not glue corks on the back of the wreath in order to allow space for the wreath to lay flush against a wall. After several lines, you may need to correct the angle with a cut, diagonal cork.

4. Fill in the gaps.

Are you finding gaps or spaces in parts of your wreath? You can use diagonally sliced corks to fill in gaps in the front, or corks cut in half to fill space near the back of the wreath.

5. Secure a ribbon.

Craft a ribbon with burlap in any style you like and use wire to attach the ribbon to the wreath.

6. Display or gift your wreath!

How to Recycle Extra Wine Corks

Natural wine corks, like the ones we use at Ridge Vineyards, can be recycled in your compost bin. Alternatively, you can also recycle your old wine corks by sending them to designated services that repurpose old corks like ReCork America. If you’re recycling synthetic corks, note that most are made with #7 plastic. This means any recycling center that takes this type of plastic will accept these corks, or you can recycle them through TerraCycle’s program.

Additional Wine Cork Related Resources from Ridge

Enjoyed this DIY wine cork wreath craft? Make sure to visit our related wine cork resources below.

• Natural Wine Cork and its Benefits
• Different Types of Wine Openers and How to Use Them