Fun and Easy Wine Cork Christmas Wreath

Do you have oodles and oodles of wine corks you have promised to make something with for years but never get around to it? Well, now is the perfect time to make good on that promise!

Over the years of searching for fun things to do with wine corks, I once came upon a pretty Valentine’s Day wreath on Pinterest. It inspired me to make one, but I thought a Christmas one would be more my style.

I made a heart-shaped wall hanging with wine corks once; not my best work, but I’ll link to it below the tutorial if you want to check it out. Surely, some improvements can be made on that one.

Anyway, this Christmas cork wreath turned out quite nice. These suckers sell on Etsy for $50-80 bucks! If you don’t already have a plethora of corks, you can buy them in bulk from Etsy, and I believe Amazon has them too.

I’m sure if you put out a post on your neighborhood Facebook group, you’ll probably get enough responses to complete an entire wreath.

How many wine corks will you need? It took about 150-175 corks and was almost 14” in diameter. I used an embroidery hoop as my form (more on that in the materials notes below), but it’s possible using a foam form may save you a few corks.

DIY DIFFICULTY LEVEL | Easy

Wine Cork Wreath Materials

• Wine corks and champagne corks -assorted
• Wreath form– 10-14”
• Glue gun
• Hot glue sticks– multiple
• Artificial floral bits (optional)
• Christmas bobbins (optional)
• Ribbon (optional)

Materials Notes:

I used a 10” wooden embroidery hoop for my wreath form because it’s what I had on hand. It turned out to work great for this project, but a little bigger would be ideal– maybe up to 14”.

Other forms may work, but if you used a rounded form like a foam one you probably will want to wrap it in a fabric like burlap in case the foam shows through.

I recommend using a wide assortment of corks for a more interesting-looking wreath. I used as many red wine corks as I could find for their Christmasy color.

And I also chose the ones that had the most visual interest. I used the plain ones inside where they either wouldn’t be visible or less visible.

How To Make A Wine Cork Wreath For Christmas

Step 1. Make The Base Layer

First, separate the corks into three piles: the most plain-looking, the better (mid-level), and the most interesting.

You’ll use the plain ones for the inner core (base) since they won’t really be seen and save the most interesting for the most prominent areas and the better (mid-level) ones for visible filler.

Now heat the glue gun and start gluing the corks around your form.

They don’t need to fully butt against each other, so you may want to loose lay them first. This is so you don’t end up with a gap at the end where you don’t have a cork small enough to fill it with. You can always cut them, but they don’t cut easily.

I had cut some older corks for a past project that I used to fill the end gap for a couple of my inner core rows. That’s the little pink one standing on its end in the photo.

With my 10 ½” form, I used about 20 corks for the first row, 17 for the second, and 22 for the third. Many of these core/base corks were smaller than most standard-sized ones.

Next, glue the corks around the first row. Then, glue a row of corks to the second row to complete your third row.

Step 2. Create The Random Design Layer

Now you can add the random corks to make the fun part of the wreath design. Glue the better (mid-level) corks around the base layers at random angles.

I kept mine mainly around the top and sides and waited until that was complete before I added just a few closer to the back and inside to create a sense of fullness. I didn’t go “all in” at the back because I wanted the wreath to lie flat.

You’ll want to place your best pieces where they’ll be featured most prominently. I used the champagne corks for this, the reddest tipped ones, and corks with the most interesting design or authentic look.

Step 3. Add Decorative Christmas Elements

Take the decorative elements you chose and glue the pieces around the wreath in a pleasing arrangement.

I haven’t tested this for outdoor use, but if you used the glue I linked to in the materials, it is weather resistant.

However, the corks may absorb moisture, so you may want to keep the wreath away from rain or snow. I think the wreath is best hung inside over a fireplace or covered porch. Or if your front door is exposed, then you should be good if you have a storm door.

To see my other wine cork tutorials, here is the Valentine’s wall art I mentioned in the introduction. And you may love these cute wine cork planters made for succulents. They are a great teacher or hostess gift.

And if you have extra corks left over, use them to make these adorable planter ornaments for artificial florals!

Don’t forget to Pin it for later!