Another item in the category of everyday objects I seem to accumulate is wine corks. I throw used ones in a bowl for no real reason. Sometimes I look through them to find a brand of wine I liked, but there are easier ways to accomplish that. But, if you also have the corks sitting around and don’t want to throw them all out, there are ways to use them in cosplay. Here are five suggestions:
Butterbeer cork necklace – In the Harry Potter films, Luna Lovegood wears a butterbeer cork necklace. She wore it to keep Nargles away, and though I can’t speak to whether it was effective in that regard, it would make a great touch for a Luna cosplay. The necklace is long with two strands of blue beads. The butterbeer cork hangs from the end. A wine cork is a fine substitute, and all you have to do to make it a pendant is to insert an eye pin in one end. MuggleNet has a tutorial.
Faux ammunition – Corks are lightweight, cylindrical, and easy to cut through so they’re ideal material for making faux ammunition. Cut them in half and shape them with an X-acto blade or leave them as is. You should test a cork to see how much it absorbs paint before you start your project because you may have to seal them with wood glue before you paint them with acrylic paint – I think gold or bronze would look best. You can glue the corks onto a wrist gauntlet or to a bandolier.
Horns – You can use styrofoam to form a base for costume horns or go with clay, but wine corks would work too. Again, their size and shape comes into play. Carve the wine cork into shape with an X-acto knife or your blade of choice and build upon the base with clay. You can use air dry clay or polymer clay to twist the horns into shape and finish them with paint before attaching the horns to clips, a headband, or string.
Wig – Dressing like a colonial? Forget wearing a stuffy powdered wig. Go with a ‘do made from wine corks. You could attach strips of craft foam to a wig cap and glue the corks onto the foam. It won’t be the lightest wig in the world, but it shouldn’t be too bad. [Photo: Saint-Emilion via Pinterest]
Wine cork suit – If you really want to show your enthusiasm for the fermented grape, you could turn your wine corks into a suit. Al Fink saved corks for years and made an outfit of them for the Burning Man Festival in 2011. About 2,000 corks make up the suit and a walking stick. To replicate the look, you’ll just need some secondhand clothes you don’t mind mucking up by covering them in corks. You could probably make glue work but sewing the corks on (by going through them, not around them) would make the suit more durable. You don’t want to leave a trail of wine corks behind you.