We had a collection of corks that we wanted to put to good use, but we weren't sure how.

I was annoyed at how messy our desks were with pencils lying everywhere. So, my sister and I created a cool cork pencil holder to contain our pens, markers and pencils while we work.

Step 1: Materials

Materials:

- Marker

- Wine bottle corks

- Glue gun sticks

- Old cork hot plate

Step 2: Tools

Tools:

- Glue gun

- Coping saw

- Sandpaper

- Metal/wood files

Not Shown:

- Safety glasses

- Work gloves

- Vacuum (To clean up saw dust)

Step 3: Creating Cork Rings

To create the pencil holder, we hot-glued the corks to make a ring of corks. We made two of these rings to make the pencil holder tall enough to properly hold the pencils. Then we hot-glued the two cork rings on top of each other.

Step 4: Creating the Base Plate

We had to create a bottom plate to keep the pencils from falling through. We used an old cork hot plate and sketched out an outline of the cork rings with a marker. We cut the base plate out by clamping it down and cutting it out using a coping saw. Once we finished cutting out a rough shape of the outline, we filed down the rest. For a finishing touch, we sanded down the base plate so it would look nicer.

Step 5: Glueing All the Pieces Together + Finishing Touches

To finish the pencil holder, we hot-glued the base plate to the two cork rings. After this, we just added some finishing touches, including filing down the base plate so all the edges would match up and got rid of the excess glue.

With this new, recycled desk addition, our desk is tidy and fashionable at the same time. So, if you don't know what to do with your extra corks, make a pencil holder!