Jutta Handrup - Fun with Cork: 35 Do-It-Yourself Projects for Cork Accessories, Gifts, Decorations, and Much More!

Thats what we thought in the summer of 2014 when we held the new cork materials in our hands for the first time. Before that, we, like many others probably, only knew of cork being used to make wine corks or bulletin boards and flooring.

This was no wine cork in front of us, rather fabrics and papers in many shapes and colors. At first, we couldnt believe these were really made of cork. The material instantly fascinated us. Cork delights your sense of touch: soft, light, and completely natural. At the same time, its functional: easy to work with, water- and dirt-repellent, and versatile.

Many well-known crafting techniques lend themselves to cork, from the world of paper and fabric to adhesive film. All the cork formats thrilled us right away and we subjected them to our creative tests. We glued and checked it hourly if everything stuck fast, made marks on it with chocolate, marmalade, coffee, and red wine, experimented with water colors and acrylic paints, sewed, cut, punched holes, and hammered it. Corks versatility surprised and persuaded us. In this book, we show you how to make DIY projects for beautiful decorations, small gift ideas, and accessories made of our new favorite material.

Let yourself catch our cork fever!

We wish you lots of fun crafting! Jutta Handrup & Maike Hedder

FEELS LOVELY

Cork is both wonderfully soft and smooth. It just feels pleasant and gives DIY projects a very special touch, in the purest sense of the word. Simply touch it and see for yourself!

NATURAL

Cork is a natural product, free from chemicals and synthetics. Therefore, children can play with your DIY projects or help make the crafts. If you want to forego animal products like leather, corks a great substitute. We love small bags made of cork!

EASY TO WORK WITH

Cork is easy to cut and doesnt fray. Handling cork doesnt require learning new skills; you can simply apply your experience working with paper and fabric when crafting with cork.

WATER- AND DIRT-REPELLENT

Cork is water- and dirt-repellent, so you can put your DIY projects in the bathroom or kitchen without worrying. If, for example, a little food lands on your cork placemat, you can easily wipe it clean.

VERSATILE

Cork is available as paper, fabric, and adhesive film of various thicknesses. It doesnt just come in the pure cork design, but also in very unique patterns and colors. You can easily tailor all the projects in this book to suit your personal tastes.

Cork fabric is firm, similar to leather, and easy to work with. The fabric is sold in different thicknesses and 2 substrates. In this book, we mainly work with thin cork fabric.

APPEARANCE

Comparable to soft leather

Smooth, soft surface

Top coated with cork pattern

Underside is uniform shade of brown

Thickness: just over 0.04 inches

CHARACTERISTICS

Very tear-resistant

Doesnt fray

Doesnt bend/fold

HANDLING

Cutting

Scoring

Gluing

Sewing

Riveting

Nailing

Stapling

Stamping

Punching

Painting

Labeling

The adhesive film is thin and has a sticky surface on the back. It is very easy to cut and suitable for decorating an infinite number of objects.

APPEARANCE

Top coated with cork

Adhesive underside with removable protective film

Thickness: very thin, less than 0.02 inches

CHARACTERISTICS

Adheres well to straight, smooth surfaces

Stays on smooth walls, tiles, wood, plastic, porcelain (among others)

Easily removed again

Bends/folds

HANDLING

Cutting

Punching

Stamping

Tearing

Gluing

Painting

Labeling

Cork construction paper is very firm and coated on both sides with cork. You can use it similarly to normal construction paper, but it does have somewhat greater difficulty keeping its shape.

APPEARANCE

Top and bottom coated with cork

Thickness: 0.03 inches

CHARACTERISTICS

Not tear-resistant

Strong paper

Less translucent

Somewhat hard to bend/fold

HANDLING

Cutting

Gluing

Creasing

Punching

Stamping

Tearing

Sewing

Painting

Labeling

Cork paper is coated on 1 side and very thin. It works well for projects that call for thin paper such as origami or translucent crafts.

APPEARANCE

Surface coated with cork

Underside is monochrome dark brown, paper substrate

Thickness: 0.02 inches

CHARACTERISTICS

Not tear-resistant

Bends/folds

Translucent

HANDLING

Cutting

Tearing

Punching

Creasing

Bending/Folding

Stamping

Gluing

Sewing

Painting

Labeling

THE GOOD NEWS IS:

If you want to start crafting with cork right away, no need to go shopping first. Crafting fans will already have at least a few basics at home perfect for making crafts with cork.

YOU DONT NEED ANY SPECIAL TOOLS.

Here we present for you a little preview of all the tools used in this book. Needless to say, in each project youll also find a detailed description of the materials needed, along with tips.