Monday, November 4, 2013

Wine Cork Necklace Charms ~ Magazine Review

 (second try, sanded and painted with 2 coats of paint)

 (first try, unsanded)

The instructions for making these unique necklaces are found in the magazine Make It Yourself, Fall/Winter 2013 issue.  This magazine basically offers instructions for items that you are sold on-line in stores such as Etsy.  They give you the option to "make it yourself" or buy it on-line (or direct you to another on-line source).


I did notice that many of the patterns/instructions, for these projects, are somewhat vague. In other words, they do not always specify the specifics.

For example, the instructions for this project did not specify the exact size of the eye screw.  You simply have to take the magazine with you to the hardware store, and search for a similar size.  Don't try shopping for the eye screws at your big box stores, they won't have small enough ones.  They do, however, sell a drywall kit, that contains the size we used in our top photo (I measured the width of the "eye" on it to be about 1/4 inch).  The instructions also mention to use a "kitchen knife" but do not specifically say what type.  Bread knife?  Paring knife?  

(household ruler, kitchen cutting board, and kitchen cheese knife)


To a beginner, these important facts tend to frustrate a person.  We did use a mini hacksaw to cut our wine corks.  However, we noticed the edge we painted is not as smooth as they show the necklace in the magazine.  We also used a simple kitchen cheese knife, and it did a better job creating a smoother surface to paint.


A trip to an actual hardware store, helped us locate eye screws (what we believe was used in the magazine).  They are 7/16 in.  You can find them in both gold and silver colors, in most hardware stores.

We simply cut 1/4 inch of cork, and painted one side with acrylic paint.  After the paint dried, we used rubber stamps over the painted surface.  Using the stamp is not an easy task.  The cork is soft, and not completely smooth, making the application of the stamp difficult.  Not all of our corks ended up with a smudge free print.  Sanding the tops will help create a smooth surface.  Cutting the corks by hand, is a bit challanging as well.  It is much easier to place the cork in a table top vise grip to hold the cork while cutting (if you have one).



Here is another one (without sanding it down), but with the smaller eye screw, and a better print.  The surface is a bit difficult to get an even distribution of the ink from the stamp.

We sprayed these with a matte finish spray to seal it, but the spray is not waterproof. 

We give this magazine a 3 1/2 stars out of 5.  Even though I have experience in crafting and recycling, I had to go to 3 stores to find the right size eye screw.  They magazine left out how to smooth the surface and specifics on cutting the wine corks.  We plan to experiment with other projects this magazine has to offer, and update as we do.

Until then, I am making a few of these necklaces for next year's Farmer's Market.  It will be interesting to see how well they sell.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Question: Where did you find this magazine? After seeing this article I searched online and found some ereader versions, but I want the print version. Called a local big name book store and they did not have it. Could I find it at a big craft store? Thanks!