There’s nothing like a legitimate reason, i.e., excuse, for the healthy number of bottles of wine passing through my apartment these past months: My mother’s birthday is in November. I’ve been doing this for her. For the trivet I’m making out of wine corks and a hose clamp to protect her tabletop from scalding pots and pans!
My mother’s a big recycler. She’ll appreciate both the gesture and the rationale behind the gift: saving money, making instead of buying, reuse, repurpose, and don’t waste.
9-inch Wine Cork Trivet: First, collect 50 to 60 natural wine bottle corks. Make sure to avoid synthetic corks; they’re not heat resistant. Purchase a stainless steel hose clamp from the hardware store or online. Hose clamps are adjustable and come in varying sizes–a pair of 12-inch diameter hose clamps can be purchased for under $15. Next, with a flathead screwdriver and a ruler, adjust your clamp to a 9-inch diameter.
Tridon Hose Clamp and Natural Wine Bottle Corks
Next, with the hose clamp laying flat, place the corks, starting from the outer rim and working your way in toward the center. You’ll need to use some elbow grease when arranging the corks so that they fit snuggly. Use a book to flatten the corks. Tighten the clamp further. And finally, cut the excess metal.
Natural wine corks and a hose clamp = Wine Cork Trivet!
To make the monogrammed kitchen towel + gift wrapper, I used scrap white cotton cloth and two iron-ons–a simple flower and my mother’s initial “A” from the book SUKI Iron-Ons by Darrell Gibbs and Julia Gibbs. Alternatively, you can also handwrite an initial or hand draw a flower or design on the towel using a colored Sharpie Pen!
SUKI Iron-Ons by Darrell Gibbs and Julia Gibbs
Iron-On Flower from SUKI
TA-DA! Here’s the Wine Cork Trivet all wrapped up in a reusable monogrammed kitchen towel wrapper and ready to go!
Iron-on Monogrammed Kitchen Towel Gift Wrapper
CHEERS!