Cork Patriotic Tree Garland

I saw some painted corks on Etsy and thought this would be a great way to decorate my tree on the lanai. I had lots of corks, so it was the perfect thing. 

How to make this garland. I gathered up my corks. I used all "natural" ones. The ones that are waxy don't work well. I taped off one end and painted it blue. 

Once the paint was dry, I peeled off the blue painters tape.  For the most part it was good. I would have to do some touch ups.

Next, I taped off the other end so I could paint it red. Once the red paint dried, I removed the painters tape. That's when I realized that it was not the best idea to tape over some of the blue. Either wait longer for it to dry, I'm not good at that, or paint them by hand - my choice. 

So I got out a small paint brush and just touched up the blue. I found it worked really well, just to hand paint it. When I made a few more corks, that's what I did. These were much better. 

Next, I used a drill bit to make a hole through the cork. I placed them down on my work bench and drilled almost all the way through. Then, using a leather glove, I held the cork and drilled the rest of the way. At the beginning, I held it and drilled the whole thing. I found it went a little straighter if I drilled on the bench first. Either way works once they are hung. 

Next, I got a thin piece of wire and made a hook on one end. I looped a piece of twine over it and secured it. I used this to go through the cork and I could pull the twine through it as well. 

Originally, I was going to paint the corks red, white and blue. the centers were to be white, but after painting the red and blue ends, I liked it that way and didn't add the white. 

I placed the corks around 5 1/2 apart. I did move some so they fit nicely where I wanted them. I used around 40 corks for this garland. This tree stays out on the lanai all year. 

These corks will stay until after labor day. I even have lights on this tree. You can see that it is actually in a Christmas tree stand. 

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