DIY Wine Cork Letter

A while back as I was perusing Pintrest, I found these wine cork letters on Etsy. I immediately fell in love and decided that I, or at least someone I know, needed one. Put off by the high price tag on something that I could DIY, I tucked the idea away until I could actually make it. Finally winter break was approaching and it was time to gather my materials!

First I went on a seemingly never ending quest to find a wooden cutout of the letter M. I tried both Google and Amazon, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Although there were more to choose from than I expected, I was left wanting something bigger and more sophisticated. And then, somehow, It came to me: the Greek letter Mu looks a lot like an M! I ended up on a website called M&D Sorority Gifts, where they sell unfinished wood Greek letters. Without seeing a picture, I made the plunge and bought a 12" letter. 

It took a while for the letter to arrive, but it's exactly what I was looking for. I picked up a paint sample from a hardware store, collected some wine corks from my dad, heated up my hot glue gun, and got to work. 

First I painted the letter with one coat of purple paint. Once the paint was dry, I hot glued the whole wine corks on their side to the letter. To get better detailing on the serifs, I cut wine corks into quarters with a small Japanese saw that belongs to my mom's boyfriend. I glued those ones edge-down. 

There were some circular corks included in the mix, which I included by sawing off the foot and gluing the bottom onto the letter. The different shapes definitely made the corners easier!