Beaded Wine Cork Keychains

If you like to make crafts from wine bottles, make something from the corks too! These beaded wine cork keychains from Renee Hanlon are adorable and thrifty, and you can customize them by switching out the beads.

Love wine cork crafts? So do we! For more projects like this one, check out our collection of 10 Things to Do With Old Wine Bottles + 16 New Craft Tutorials.

Find this wine bottle project plus many more in our free eBook, 25 Cool Things to Do with Wine Bottles.

Materials:

• Wine cork
• Drill bits
• Rubber cement
• Beading wire
• Beading elastic
• Charm
• Small beads
• Small flat nose pliers
• Round needle nose pliers
• Wire snips
• Tweezers
• Darning needle
• Keychain
• 2 beading eye pins (for second technique)
• 2 beading round attachments
   

Instructions:

1. With a drill bit, that is large enough to make a hole to fit a chain through it, twist by hand a hole about a 1/4 inch through the center top of the cork. The cork is easy to drill through so you don’t have to use a drill but can if you want to.
    
2. Drill a hole through the side about 1/8 inch down from the top the same way you did your first hole. Drill through until you can see the tip of the drill bit coming through from the top of the center hole – it should be half way through the cork.
    
3. Now start pushing your chain through the side hole. Use a darning needle and a tweezers to pull the chain through the top hole and continue feeding through. Clasp the chain together.
    
4. Coat the top and the upper side of the cork, especially at the drilled holes, with rubber cement. This will give it some extra strength where the chain is pulled through and keep the holes from flaking.
    
5. With a smaller drill bit, drill a hole completely through the bottom of the cork as shown. This is where your beading wire will be inserted.
    
6. Cut a piece of beading wire about six inches long and insert it through your hole.
    
7. Criss-cross the wires through your charm and then pull the wires tight so that your charm is against the cork. Now twist the two wires together a couple of times and bring them around and under the side of the charm holder. You will need to use your flat nose pliers to get this nice and tight.
    
8. Now loop the wires around the opposite side and bring them back to where you started. Crimp them tight with your pliers. Snip the access ends off with your wire snips and bend in place with pliers.
    
9. Sting your desired beads on to your elastic and time them on to your charm holder. Place a dot of rubber cement over your knots to keep them secure.
    
10. Second Technique: The second technique requires purchasing just a couple of extra parts but it provides a nice look. Attach a round beading attachment to each eye pin. Cut the eye pin to about a one inch length with your wire snips. Apply glue to the pin and insert one into each end of the cork. You now have a ring on each end to attach your chain and your string of beads.
    ***I used one of the key chains, that I made, just to display one of my vintage keys in a fun way.
     
11. I originally tried inserting my beading wire, wrapping around a charm, and then stringing those ends with beads and twisting the wire at the ends to hold the beads in place. This was a stiffer look – almost like legs on a cork, which I didn’t care for. But, if you wanted to make a person key chain and add wire arms and a head as well, it would be cute.