Several years ago my daughter bought some cork to make a bulletin board for a friend. In the package was a picture of a "woven" bulletin board, but no instructions. I searched the internet and even contacted the manufacturer of the cork, but I just could not find the directions to make one. As a weaver, of course I HAD to have one, and since necessity is the mother of invention, I decided I'd just have to figure this out on my own. So for something different, today I'm going to show you how I did it!
Here is what you'll need:
2 rolls of thin cork (I got mine from Oriental Trading Company)
(it's 3/32" thick on a 2' wide by 4' long roll)
Cardboard or foam core board (for mounting)
Hot glue
Spray adhesive
Sharp craft knife
First, decide how large you'd like your bulletin board to be. I made mine about 17" X 24".
Cut a sheet of cork about two inches larger all around than you'd like the finished size to be.
Measure and mark two inches from each edge, all the way around with a pen or marker. What you're going to do is cut parallel lines, spaced an inch apart, the whole way across the cork, so this line is where you stop cutting. It helps to tape the cork onto the surface you'll be using for cutting (thick cardboard works fine-make it a bit bigger than the cork sheet). I used clear packaging tape....it sticks well enough but not so much you can't get it off the cork. It doesn't take much pressure to cut through the cork if your knife is sharp. I made marks spaced an inch apart at the top and bottom edges, then used a yardstick as a guide for my knife while cutting.
Here's what your piece of cork should look like when you're finished making "slits".
You can see the lines I drew to make a border....DO NOT CUT BEYOND THIS BORDER!
Ok, set this aside for now.
Next you want to cut long strips of cork that are 1" wide. They need to be long enough to weave the entire way across the cork sheet with slits.
So for my example, my strips needed to be about 26" long. (Making them a little longer than the finished size will be allows you to glue the ends down later.)
To figure out how many strips you will need, take your side measurement (in my example it's 17") , and divide by 1" (width of strips) plus 5/8" for spacing (.625). So 17 divided by 1.625 = 10.46. I rounded down to 10, but it would be a good idea to cut a few extra strips in case some of them rip.
Now comes the fun part! You will be weaving these 1" strips into the sheet with slits.
Go slowly and gently, because the cork will break if you bend it too far. Here's a picture:
Start near the top, but don't worry about getting it exactly where it needs to be just yet....this can be adjusted later.
Just start weaving over, then under, then over, etc. Be very careful not to pull up on the base cork strips too far....just lift them enough to slide the strip you're weaving with under the vertical strips. Don't pull your weaver too far ahead at a time...if you do, you'll have to bend the cork too much to get it under the next vertical strip and it WILL break!
Once you have the strip woven all the way across, GENTLY push it up towards the top, almost to the line you drew for the border. Each subsequent strip should be spaced about 5/8" apart, weaving opposite from the row before. Do this the whole way down the cork sheet.
When you get nearer to the bottom, it will be a little more difficult to weave the strips, because there isn't as much "give" in the vertical strips. At this point, take the tape off the bottom edge of your sheet and gently weave in the remaining strips.
It helps to lift the bottom edge up a bit when you're doing this.
Once you have all the strips woven, adjust them so they are evenly spaced and parallel with the top and bottom edges.
Glue down the ends of the cork strips on BOTH sides (see below) with a hot glue gun. Trim any excess if necessary.
Cut a second sheet of cork the same size as the first one you cut slits in. This cork is very thin, so it helps to have a second layer.
Glue this to your woven cork sheet using spray adhesive and let dry. I would flip the woven sheet over so that the marks I made for the border won't show.
Glue this to a sheet of foam core board or heavy-duty cardboard using the spray adhesive.
Trim everything to within 1/2-1" of the woven area with a sharp craft knife.
That's it! You can purchase a frame for it, glue more strips of cork around the edges with hot glue to give it a finished look, or do what I did and use 1/2" flat/oval reed glued around the edges as a homemade "frame"!
Here is what you'll need:
2 rolls of thin cork (I got mine from Oriental Trading Company)
(it's 3/32" thick on a 2' wide by 4' long roll)
Cardboard or foam core board (for mounting)
Hot glue
Spray adhesive
Sharp craft knife
First, decide how large you'd like your bulletin board to be. I made mine about 17" X 24".
Cut a sheet of cork about two inches larger all around than you'd like the finished size to be.
Measure and mark two inches from each edge, all the way around with a pen or marker. What you're going to do is cut parallel lines, spaced an inch apart, the whole way across the cork, so this line is where you stop cutting. It helps to tape the cork onto the surface you'll be using for cutting (thick cardboard works fine-make it a bit bigger than the cork sheet). I used clear packaging tape....it sticks well enough but not so much you can't get it off the cork. It doesn't take much pressure to cut through the cork if your knife is sharp. I made marks spaced an inch apart at the top and bottom edges, then used a yardstick as a guide for my knife while cutting.
Here's what your piece of cork should look like when you're finished making "slits".
You can see the lines I drew to make a border....DO NOT CUT BEYOND THIS BORDER!Ok, set this aside for now.
Next you want to cut long strips of cork that are 1" wide. They need to be long enough to weave the entire way across the cork sheet with slits.
So for my example, my strips needed to be about 26" long. (Making them a little longer than the finished size will be allows you to glue the ends down later.)
To figure out how many strips you will need, take your side measurement (in my example it's 17") , and divide by 1" (width of strips) plus 5/8" for spacing (.625). So 17 divided by 1.625 = 10.46. I rounded down to 10, but it would be a good idea to cut a few extra strips in case some of them rip.
Now comes the fun part! You will be weaving these 1" strips into the sheet with slits.
Go slowly and gently, because the cork will break if you bend it too far. Here's a picture:
Start near the top, but don't worry about getting it exactly where it needs to be just yet....this can be adjusted later.Just start weaving over, then under, then over, etc. Be very careful not to pull up on the base cork strips too far....just lift them enough to slide the strip you're weaving with under the vertical strips. Don't pull your weaver too far ahead at a time...if you do, you'll have to bend the cork too much to get it under the next vertical strip and it WILL break!
Once you have the strip woven all the way across, GENTLY push it up towards the top, almost to the line you drew for the border. Each subsequent strip should be spaced about 5/8" apart, weaving opposite from the row before. Do this the whole way down the cork sheet.
When you get nearer to the bottom, it will be a little more difficult to weave the strips, because there isn't as much "give" in the vertical strips. At this point, take the tape off the bottom edge of your sheet and gently weave in the remaining strips.
It helps to lift the bottom edge up a bit when you're doing this.
Once you have all the strips woven, adjust them so they are evenly spaced and parallel with the top and bottom edges.
Glue down the ends of the cork strips on BOTH sides (see below) with a hot glue gun. Trim any excess if necessary.
Cut a second sheet of cork the same size as the first one you cut slits in. This cork is very thin, so it helps to have a second layer.
Glue this to your woven cork sheet using spray adhesive and let dry. I would flip the woven sheet over so that the marks I made for the border won't show.
Glue this to a sheet of foam core board or heavy-duty cardboard using the spray adhesive.
Trim everything to within 1/2-1" of the woven area with a sharp craft knife.
That's it! You can purchase a frame for it, glue more strips of cork around the edges with hot glue to give it a finished look, or do what I did and use 1/2" flat/oval reed glued around the edges as a homemade "frame"!
You can even glue magnet strips to the back so you can hang it on your frig door....just make sure when you put a push pin in it that it doesn't come out the back. If it does, you may want to glue another sheet of cardboard to the back.I made this bulletin board in a couple of hours....the most time-consuming part is cutting the single strips, but it's definitely worth it!
Enjoy!
Juliana,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful and creative basketmaker's solution to dressing up a bland cork bulletin board! I wish I'd thought of it, but will absolutely be making one of these myself! Thanks for posting the great tutorial!
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Cathryn,
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! I should mention that I checked Oriental for the cork rolls and they were out of stock, but I found some on Amazon by "The Cork Dudes"....comparable in price.
Have fun! Thanks for commenting!
That would take me WAY too long. Great job.
ReplyDeleteBoy you made that look easy. I seem to look at weaving as difficult. Thanks for sharing. Head on over and click my "Follow" button if you like what you see. This way we can inspire one another to get our creative juices flowing.
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial! I've never done this before but you've made it look easy. :-)
ReplyDeletepk @ Room Remix