I love working with wine corks; I love their colors, texture and versatility. I realize that many of my cork projects require a large amount of corks, so I thought I’d share my tips for amassing a good collection fairly quickly…

Even if you don't drink a drop of wine, you can get crackin' on a pretty impressive cork collection for your projects.

Tips for building a cork collection in a flash:

- Keep a large glass vase or apothecary jar around to catch all of your own corks

- Ask friends to do the same for you (if they know you’re crafty, they’ll understand)

- If you’re out to dinner with a large group and the wine is flowing, ask the waiter in advance to save the corks for you (they’ll be OK with it)

- Call a local bar and ask if you can have any corks that would otherwise be thrown away – politeness, a smile and a sincere “Thank You” go a long way with this

- Check EBay. I’ve seen lots containing 500 real corks selling for about $50.00

Here are a few links to my favorite cork projects: Cork Burst & Cork Garland.