How To: Upcycle Dated ‘Art’ into a Corkboard

Detail of one of the upcycled bulletin boards I've made. Read on to learn how.

Lately, I’ve been inspired by cork. Why, you may ask?

Well, I found a huge, huge stash of wine corks at the fabulous ReUse Centre run by the City of Edmonton. Nearly half of them were those horrible plastic-and-foam abominations – which is a terrible shame, since making wine corks is both a traditional employer and a sustainable industry, without which the unique cork oak woodland ecosystem would be irreparably damaged. Contrary to rumour, cork is not going extinct: making wine corks or cork flooring actually prevents the extinction of cork oaks. So, I wanted to repurpose the old wine corks in a way that would be functional, while celebrating their traditional purpose and history.

I’ve also been trying to think of a good way to upcycle the dated, disposable ‘art’ that’s readily available at any charity shop or thrift store (The ones pictured below all came from Goodwill).

Consequently I’ve been working on a line of upcycled cork items for the home, which will be available for sale locally and through my Etsy shop (in the Quirks N Corks section). Here are instructions for how to make a couple of different styles of upcycled corkboards.

Before: thrifted framed print

1. Disassemble frame; use flat-nosed pliers to remove any staples.

Removing the staples holding the print in place using flat-nosed pliers

2. Set aside any glass – this can be used as a dry-erase board, or recycled.

3. Paint the yucky old frame. I spray-painted mine matte white.

4. Glue cork to the cardboard backing. I used part of a roll of cork sheeting, some heavy books to keep it flat, and glue for this project (I like Weldbond because it’s 0-VOC, nontoxic, bonds to nearly anything, and dries clear – oh, and it’s Canadian). If you had a deep frame, you could use cork bulletin-board squares, or reuse wine corks, instead.

5. Once your paint and your glue are dry (say, after waiting overnight), put your cork-covered backing into the frame, and fasten into place (I had to use a staple gun for this part, but your method will depend on the frame you start with). Now it’s ready to hang and use.

After: the completed corkboard.

This is actually hanging in my home office/studio, and works really well in a room with antique or cottagey elements.

Speaking of wine corks, here’s another option:

1. Start with a thrifted poster or print that’s laminated onto MDF. Lightly sand the glossy surface so the glue will bond properly, and wipe it down to remove the dust.

Poster laminated onto MDF, before

2. Glue cork onto the sanded backing. In my case, I used a layer of cork sheeting first (so bits of the image wouldn’t show between the wine corks), then constructed a frame out of those wine corks from the ReUse Centre. For the basketweave pattern used here, it’s helpful to sort your corks into matching pairs first.  (No boxful of collected wine corks waiting to be reused? No ReUse Centre in your town? No problem. Ask at local restaurants, or plead with friends to save their wine corks from parties and wedding celebrations for you.)

3. Once the glue is cured (again, after waiting overnight), your masterpiece is ready to hang and use.

The nasty inspirational poster, after its' quirky corky makeover.

If you have more corks, or a smaller surface, or both: you can also cover the whole darn thing with wine corks. I’ll warn you, it will be way heavier than you expect. I think this cork mosaic is destined to become a tabletop, if I can’t figure out how to hang it safely:

A largish sheet of MDF, totally covered with wine corks, is surprisingly heavy. But pretty nice, yes?

Or, if you have even more corks, you can cover the surface with them on end instead of laying on their sides. This photo is from New Modern: Creative Living Spaces by Carla Breeze (via Terramia). LOVE IT. But I wonder how heavy it is?

<Update: image of cork artwork deleted due to copyright. I encourage readers to go check out the book though!>

Here are some other wine cork projects on the web: Michelle Kaufmann’s wine-cork mat project video, which ends up looking similar to the artwork in the photo above; cork-craft roundups on Crafting A Green World, Love To Know, and Wine Intro

Here are some other artisans & designers doing amazing things with cork: Daniel Michalik (I love his cast-cork bowls and Cub Chair), Steven Leslie (are they vases, or scupture?), Jan Elftmann (incredible art car), Jasper Morrison for Vitra and Moooi and Vitra again (more cast cork, so covetable).