Decorative Cork Wall Tiles
by
Jennifer Lee
9 Materials
$5
1 Hour
Easy
Dress up plain cork tiles with inexpensive materials to add a functional decor piece to your wall!
materials
Step 1: Gather your materials. I used 1/4" thick dowels ($2.00 for 12-pack), 1/4" thick cork tiles ($5.74 for 4-pack), and 9mm-thick metal photo corners (can buy in 30- or- 50-packs for just a couple of dollars on ebay). Washi tape is about $1.00 per 10-meter roll and offers endless abstract designs to choose from. I would not recommend using any geometric patterned tape for these, because it is hard to wrap the dowels completely straight.
Step 2: Cut washi tape and gently wrap the dowels.
The washi tape I used did not completely wrap around the 1/4" thick dowel rod, but that's ok as long as it covers one side.
Step 3: Place pieces of non-tacky tape around the edges of the cork square, sticky side facing up on your work surface.
Step 4: Arrange your wrapped dowels in a border around the cork square and fasten tightly with the tape. You are working on the back side of the cork tile, so make sure the decorative side of each dowel is face-down. Some of the dowels may be warped. The tape will straighten them out. Notice how the rods are offset at each corner.
Step 5: Place some weight on the cork tile, so that any warped dowels don't warp the cork later in the gluing process.
Step 6: Use your glue gun to adhere the rods to the cork. Glue between each strip of tape for now.
Step 7: Glue each metal corner to the rods.
Step 8: When glue is dry, remove tape and glue the rods to the cork square where the pieces of tape had been.
Step 9: If your washi tape is peeling off, you will need to seal it to the project using mod podge, or acrylic sealer.
Step 10: I glued a piece of foam and a sawtooth picture hanger to the back for some extra thickness and easy hanging on the wall.
Frequently asked questions
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