Weatherproof Seat Pad From Wine Corks

Used wine corks and nylon cord can be used to make a seat pad for garden chairs and benches that can be left out in the rain without coming to any harm. It's also something that could be taken with you to outdoor events like sports matches and open-air performances because it will roll up into quite a small bundle.

I used synthetic corks so that it would be totally rot-proof, and also because they come in a more standard range of sizes than natural corks, which made it easier to find ones that were all approximately the same length and diameter. The ones I used were mostly branded Nomacorc and Vinotop.

Not a big wine drinker? New, natural corks can be bought cheaply in homebrew shops, or just ask your local restaurants and bars to collect corks for you.

For a seat pad that measures about 35cm x 24cm (14" x 9.5") you’ll need 63 corks and approximately 4m (13ft) of nylon or polyester cord that’s about 4mm (5/32") thick. And also:

• A scrap of wood about 50mm (2") square and at least 100mm (4") long
• A drill, preferably a pillar drill
• A 22mm (7/8") spade bit (or whatever size suits the diameter of your corks)
• A drill bit to suit the thickness of the cord
• A smaller drill bit for pilot holes
• A carpenter’s square, a ruler and pencil
• A small kitchen knife for trimming corks to length
• Matches or a lighter
• An Allen key, screwdriver, skewer or similar metal tool, no thicker than the cord
• Scissors

Start by sorting out your corks and giving them a wash if they are wine-stained. Check you have enough that are much the same size. If some are too long they can be trimmed – see Step 4 – but it’s best not to use ones that are fatter than the rest because they won’t fit into the jig we’ll make in the next step.

Each cork needs two holes drilling through it so it can be laced to its neighbours in staggered rows. Lay out a few corks (preferably standard-sized ones, not those you've identified as needing trimming to length) on a table and play with the spacing to work out how far you want each cork to overlap the one in the next row and hence how far the holes should be from its ends. The centre of each hole should be in the centre of the zone of overlap. Drilling the holes too near the ends is asking for trouble because the synthetic cork material may break, especially at the end that’s been damaged by a corkscrew, so adjust the overlap accordingly. The thickness of the cord is a factor too, you’ll need a good overlap for thick cord because the holes will need to be relatively large.

My corks were 45mm long and I chose to overlap by 20mm and place the centres of the holes 10mm from each end. This left just a small gap (5mm) between the corks in each row. I drilled 4.5mm diameter holes, meaning the edge of a hole was nearly 8mm (5/16") from the end. I wouldn’t recommend going much closer than 6mm (¼”).

The only sensible way to drill 126 holes in the right place, all on the centreline of the corks, is to use a purpose-made jig. Start by measuring the diameter of a cork and then find a spade bit (flat bit) that’s very slightly larger. Drill a test hole through a piece of scrap wood that’s nearly as thick as the length of a cork and check the cork will pass through it with a push - it shouldn't be a sloppy fit.

Ideally, the cork should be held really snugly in the test hole because you don’t want it to move at all in the jig between drilling the first cord hole and the second. However, it shouldn’t be such a tight fit that it’s excessively difficult to push it through. It’s worth finding a bit that’s just the right size. You may find that one end of some corks is slightly narrower than the other, because they haven’t yet fully “relaxed” after being crammed in a bottle. As long as the wider end is a snug fit, such that it will stay put in the jig, that’s fine.

For the jig, cut another piece of scrap wood down to a square cross-section that’s about twice the diameter of a cork. Cut it to about 1½ - 2 times as long as a cork. At least one of its ends needs to be square with its sides. Draw in the diagonals on this square end with a pencil to find the centre point, and draw a line from this point to the mid point of one of the sides of the square. (This side will be uppermost when the jig is in use.)

You need to drill a hole with the spade bit, at the centre point you've marked on the end, perfectly parallel with the long edges of the jig. If you have a pillar drill and both ends of the jig are square with its sides this is an easy task, but if not then take the time to set up carefully and use a carpenter’s square (or a set square, or even a sheet of cardboard) to line up the drill. Start by drilling a pilot hole with a small bit on the marked centre point, going as deep as the bit will allow. Then place the spade bit against the side of the jig to show how deep it needs to go to make a hole that’s exactly the same length as the shortest corks you inend to use, and mark the shaft with a piece of sticky tape (or use a depth gauge, if your drill has one). Drill the hole, stopping just short of the tape mark so that you can vacuum out the sawdust and try a cork in it for length before drilling a bit deeper if necessary. You want the cork to sit fully in the hole with its end flush with the surface of the jig. (If you go too far, don’t worry, you can use a washer or cut a ring from paper or card to pack the base of the hole.)

It’s advisable to have a smaller hole that goes right through the jig from the base of the hole you’ve just drilled to the other end, so that any corks that get stuck can be pushed out easily from that end. As long as this hole is a little smaller than the diameter of the cork – say at least 6mm (1/4”) smaller – that will be fine and will mean that you can use a finger or similar to push out a cork without risking poking a hole in its end with a slim tool. However, I chose to make my poking-out hole the same diameter as the holes for the nylon cord in case I ever want to use this same jig to drill longitudinal holes in corks as well as radial ones. If you have a long enough drill bit of the right size then just drill straight through from the open end, following the original pilot hole. Otherwise, you’ll have to drill from the closed end, it doesn’t matter if you’re not on the exact centreline unless, like me, you want this to be a dual-purpose jig.

Now we will drill two holes in the face of the jig that will be uppermost when it’s being used. Find the pencil mark you made in Step 2 in the middle of one edge of the square end and use the carpenter’s square to transfer it to the adjacent face and draw a line down the centre of that face that’s parallel with its long edges.

Measure and mark the points on this line that correspond to the require cord hole positions. In my case with the holes 10mm from the end of a 45mm long cork, I marked the first point 10mm from the end of the jig and the second point 35mm away (= 45-10mm) from the end. Drill pilot holes at these points, taking care to make them perpendicular to the face of the jig so that they pass through the centreline of the cork-shaped void and go straight across it, radially.

Before selecting a drill bit to use for the actual holes, drill some test holes in a spare cork and try feeding your lacing cord through them. (You may need to prepare the end first – see Step 6.) The rubbery synthetic corks will grip the cord if the holes aren’t too large rather than sliding about on it, removing the need to insert spacers between adjacent corks or tie knots to keep them in place. Experiment to find the best size of hole that will stop the corks slipping out of position without it being too hard to thread the cord through.

Drill the full-size holes in the jig. They need to go a short way into the far side of the void, but it doesn’t matter if they go right the way through and come out of the other side of the jig.

Push a cork fully into the jig and drill two holes through it. Check that they are equidistant from the ends (when you turn the cork around, the holes should still line up with the jig holes), parallel to each other and on a diameter. If there’s anything wrong, just abandon these holes in the jig, turn it through 90° and make two new holes in an adjacent face.

With the jig made, it’s easy to see if any corks are too long. If one does protrude from the end of the jig I found the best way to trim it was to mark a ring on it using a pencil then remove it from the jig and cut it to length on the pencil mark with a small paring knife. A serrated knife worked well on the corks I used but I suggest you try different knives on a spare cork to see which cuts most cleanly. Cut a slice off the corkscrew-damaged end rather than the good end.

While you’re at it, cut a length from a spare cork that’s exactly half the length of the corks you'll be using. This will be pushed into the bottom of the jig in Step 8 in order to facilitate cutting the fill-in corks at the ends of the seat pad in half.

I drilled (and laced up) my corks in an entirely random order and orientation, but you may wish to have the writing on them all the same way up or some other arrangement. Think about this and mark the jig, if appropriate, to make it easier to line them up in the way you want and get the holes in the right place on the circumference.

Pop a cork into the jig and drill the two holes. (An ordinary wood bit worked well for my corks.) Remove the cork and check the holes have gone far enough through or it will be difficult to push the cord right through – adjust the depth gauge on your drill or stick a piece of tape on the shaft of the bit if necessary. Then drill the remaining corks.

I was able to drill two corks (4 holes) per minute with no trouble, just pushing each one out of the jig with an Allen key that fitted through the hole in the end before inserting the next cork. I held the jig in a vice, but it wasn’t really necessary to do that, holding it by hand when using a pillar drill should be fine as long as the jig is big enough to be able to keep your hand well clear of the bit.

Cut a generous length of cord, particularly if you want the rows of corks spaced wider apart than mine were. Melt each cut end in turn over a flame and, after allowing the molten plastic to solidify and cool for a second or two, gently shape it to a rounded point using moistened fingers. This needs care so as not to burn yourself; start by letting it cool for a count of at least 5 after taking the flame away, and if you find that the end is already too set to be mouldable then cut it off and repeat the exercise as many times as necessary, counting a second less each time until the interval is just right and you can shape the end without it being too hot. Do it over a sink or bucket of cold water, both in case any burning lumps of plastic fall away and so you can immediately dunk your fingers if they are in danger of burning.

The aim is to get a stiffened and fray-free tip to the cord that is no bigger in any direction than the cord itself. Ideally, the tip will be slightly narrower than the cord.

You need to do this with both ends of the cord because you will be starting the lacing process at the middle, to avoid having to pull the whole length through corks to start with.

These synthetic corks are quite elastic, and when they are deformed it takes a moment or two before they completely recover their original shape. You can make use of this by stretching each hole before feeding the end of the cord through it. Do this by pushing an Allen key, slim screwdriver, metal skewer or aluminium knitting needle through the hole and levering it up and down and from side to side, then quickly removing it and immediately threading the cord through the hole. I found that gripping the cord tightly close to the end and pushing it into the hole bit by bit, twisting as I did so, was the best way to do it.

Once you see the tip of the cord emerge at the other side, grab it – use pliers to help if you like - and pull. As you pull the cord through, untwist it to avoid kinks between corks – this doesn’t matter for the first cork, but it’s as well to get into the habit.

Pull half the cord through the first hole in a cork. Still with the same end of the cord, take it back down through the other hole in the same cork and pull it right through to leave a length of cord running along the side of this cork. Let’s call the row that this cork is in Row 1, as shown in the photo with numbers. The numbers indicate the order in which each new cork is added, blue for the first half of the seat pad and green for the second half.

Then feed the same end of the cord through one hole in each of 8 more corks and arrange them so they point alternately left and right and are evenly spaced on the cord for Rows 2-9. (It’s much easier to get the spacing right at this stage than to adjust it when the corks are all interconnected.) Now go through another cork (no. 10) which will be the adjacent cork in Row 9, then through the second hole in the Row 8 cork, a new Row 7 cork, the second hole in the Row 6 cork and so on, ending with the second hole in the Row 2 cork and then a new Row 1 cork (no. 14). Again, even up the spacing before you go any further.

Continue in this way until you have a total of 27 corks on the cord and have just gone through the second hole of your 3rd Row 9 cork, no. 19. This end of the seat pad needs another 5 whole corks (and four half corks) to finish it, and one end of all of these corks will be visible along the side edge, so arrange the next 5 corks (in Rows 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1) so that any corkscrew damage is at the other end where it won’t be seen. Go back down through the second hole in the final cork (the 4th cork in Row 1, no. 32), then leave the end of the cord you’ve been working with until now.

Pick up the other end of the cord which emerges from the second hole of the first cork you strung in Row 1, no. 1. Work the second half of the seat pad to match the first half, adding a further 27 corks and ending up back in Row 1, having gone though both holes of that cork. As before, the final 5 corks should be positioned so that their “good” ends are visible.

You’ve used 59 corks and should have 4 left. They need to be cut in half and used to fill in the gaps at the ends of the seat pad. If you have 4 spare corks then use these as well, discarding the halves of all 8 that have ends damaged by a corkscrew. Place the half cork you prepared in Step 4 in the bottom of the jig then put in each “good” cork in turn and draw a line round its middle before cutting on that line, as before.

Finish lacing up the seat pad by adding half corks for Rows 2, 4, 6 and 8 at each end while taking the cord through the second hole of the Row 3, 5, 7 and 9 corks.

Make any final adjustments to the spacing then tie a simple overhand knot right up against the two Row 9 corks. Cut off the excess cord and seal the cut end close to the knot by holding it in a flame for a second or two.