Wine Cork Shadow Box: Displaying Memories with Every Sip
We all love gifts with sentimental value. Perhaps this is why, the letters that our friends write, the New Years’ greetings cards we exchanged as kids, and a hand-me-down wedding trousseau we receive from our grandparents never end up at a scrap dealer’s or garage sale. If you have been wracking your brain to come up with gift ideas that are personal and also novel, a wine cork shadow box is a perfect gift item for your wine-aficionado loved ones.
Shadow boxes have been around for around three centuries, and were generally found in the homes of military personnel who would display their medals, badges, ribbons and other tokens of their illustrious services. These boxes, honouring all the achievements and sacrifices made by the service members, would evoke a sense of pride and nostalgia among family and friends.
With time, shadow boxes began showcasing other collectors’ items such as coins, stamps and of course, wine corks.
Why Choose One?
A wine shadow cork box is an ideal collector’s item. The memories created around a celebration are earmarked by the cork of the wine bottle popped open that day. Whether you were out on a romantic dinner, hosting your friends at your house or enjoying an evening alone with good music and a book, the cork is tangible proof of a joyous time, a keepsake that you can keep going back to from time to time and relive the moments.
With every new cork that you deposit in your shadow box, your bank of happy memories grows.
By gifting wine corks and repurposing them, you will also do your bit towards sustainable living and reducing your carbon footprint. Cork is an entirely renewable, recyclable and biodegradable resource, so this way, you will also reduce the amount of waste you generate.
What To Keep In Mind
You also need not burn a hole in your pocket to gift a shadow box. All you need are a few stationery items – a wooden box, wine cork, a hot glue gun, ribbons, stickers and labels—and time.
The first thing that you need to do is find a shadow box frame which has a significantly large capacity to hold a lot of corks at once. The material you choose for the back panel of the box can range from a piece of fabric, a picture or even handmade paper. To attach the material to the back, dismantle it from its frame. Now measure out the back panel, cut a strip of your material and secure it with glue.
Customisation
Once you have customised the background to your liking, clamp it back to the frame. If you want to customise it even further, you can even write or draw simple designs on the glass panel.
The glass panel will have to be cured thoroughly with rubbing alcohol before you start painting on it.
Then select a quote or a design that you want to recreate on the shadow box, and print it out in large fonts.
The paper you have printed your design on is your stencil, so you will take a scissor and follow along the lines of the design until you are left with the outline on the paper. Then use tape to secure the paper onto the box and paint over the stencil.
Once your paint dries, take the paper off and you’re left with a beautiful customised glass panel. Your box is now ready for corks to be dropped in. Tie a ribbon around the box with a handwritten note, and your loved ones will always cherish this personalised gift.
