wine cork trivet

Make An Upcycled Wine Cork Trivet

Are you ready to start crafting again after all of the holiday chaos? Don’t worry if you’re still feeling a little worn-out because making an upcycled wine cork trivet (or three) is the perfect way to reboot. They’re quick, easy, and will help clear away the last of the holiday detritus. I’m not the only one whose house isn’t back to normal yet, right? Anyway, all you need is a flat surface, a few wine corks, and the multipurpose glue of your choice. Ready to get started?

Here’s how:

First, take your corks and lay them all out so you can see what you have:

wine cork trivet project corks

Set aside any that stand out as being really different from the others. Next, experiment with different layouts and sizes until you find one you like. Here I tried to make a trivet with just the darker corks:

wine cork trivet project dark corks

It wasn’t very big, so I tried again using the lighter corks for the vertical elements and the darker corks for the horizontal elements:

wine cork trivet project mock up

I liked this design, but it was a little small and the one sort of yellowish cork in the middle didn’t quite match. I added more corks and swapped-out the yellow one:

wine cork trivet project mock up final

Perfect!

Now start gluing:

Once you have your final design, take two corks from one of the corners and glue them together:

wine cork trivet project first cork glued

The glue dries clear, so be generous with it. Press the corks together gently. As you can see, corks are natural and not very symmetrical. Don’t worry if they only make contact in a few places: the glue will help span the join:

wine cork trivet project second cork glued

Keep gluing the corks together according to your pattern:

wine cork trivet project cork with glue on two sides

When you have at least 12-15 in place, step back and see if your trivet looks reasonably straight. It is going to sit under a dish, not hang in a museum, so ‘reasonably straight’ will be just fine:

wine cork trivet project half finished

If you need to straighten it, or adjust any of the corks, just slide them around a little bit while the glue is still wet. Keep adding corks, following your chosen pattern, until your wine cork trivet is the size you want:

wine cork trivet project fully glued

Let it dry:

Let your upcycled wine cork trivet dry for 24 hours. Once the glue is completely dry, you should be able to lift the trivet without it falling apart. If it does break at some point (this can happen if there is a lot of humidity under a hot dish or pot), simply re-glue using the same craft glue.

Try different patterns and sizes:

There’s really no ‘right’ way to arrange the corks, so just play around until you get something you like. Here are some suggestions:

Pair similar corks for a basket weave pattern:

wine cork trivet basket weave pattern

Or make a wine cork trivet out of completely different corks:

wine cork trivet with all different corks

Or try a herringbone wine cork trivet:

wine cork trivet herringbone pattern

What you will need:

  • Wine corks
  • Multipurpose craft glue that dries clear
  • Flat surface

Tips and tricks:

  • Still have a few wine corks left? Why not use them to make an organization board that you can keep adding to all year?
    (click here for instructions)
  • If you have any natural corks that can’t be upcycled into wine cork trivets, you can always recycle them at places like ReCork (click here for locations).
  • When setting-up a buffet, put a few wine cork trivets together to make one continuous heat-resistant surface:
wine cork trivet buffet surface

I hope you find making a wine cork trivet a nice, relaxing way to ease back into making after the holiday rush. At this point I’ve probably procrastinated for long enough and should really get back to the last of the un-decorating. Maybe just one more trivet first…

As always, feel free to ask questions or leave comments. Don’t forget to subscribe to Creatorvox to get new posts right in your email. You can also follow Creatorvox on Facebook and Twitter for more tips and tricks between posts. Thanks for reading, and happy making!

6 Replies to “Make An Upcycled Wine Cork Trivet”

    1. Hi Karen, I’m not sure which utensils you mean, or what type of exposure. I put hot pots on the trivets all the time and have not had a problem. The glue is never in direct contact with something hot. I do not think the glue could withstand touching something hot directly. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions.

  1. Très chouette votre dessous de plat,je vais en faire un semblable.
    J’aime le nom sur les bouchons, car c’est le mien !
    ( Le ” Fournier ” était celui qui s’occupait du four ).Cordialement

    1. Merci! La famille Fournier produit aussi d’excellents vins indépendants. Ceci est évident dans le nombre de bouchons! 🙂

  2. Do the corks actually need to be made of cork? I have a lot (we won’t discuss numbers) of artificial corks. I’m not sure if they’d melt.

    1. Hi Karen, That’s a good question. I’m sure it would depend upon the manufacturer, and that might be difficult information to find. I probably wouldn’t try it. If you do need a project for the artificial corks, and if you can stick them with a thumbtack or pin easily enough, you could always try the Creatorvox Organization Board project. I like that one because I can keep adding corks to it as they ‘appear’ in my house. Lol.

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