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I'm a sucker for making homemade toys. It's true. Well, then I saw these amazing Korxx cork building blocks via a giveaway over at Still Playing School and I knew that I had to try making a DIY version. Especially since the price tag for 70 blocks was over $200! Eek! Have no fear, I am here to show you how you can make a set of your own for a fraction of the price.
I made all shapes and sizes, playing around with the possibilities. I even tried dyeing scrap pieces with liquid watercolors for fun. Dyeing them looks really cool, but the color obviously bleeds if they get wet. Besides, I love the look of natural cork. Don't you? So I left our blocks natural.
Making these blocks were straightforward, although a bit tedious and messy. And then there's the blisters on my fingers...But I still think they are totally worth making. Besides, the effort exerted to make these DIY cork blocks pale in comparison to the work that went into the homemade light bright. Clearly these projects make me look like a DIY mad-woman. I swear I'm not crazy. I just like to see if I can come up with a frugal alternative.
Anyway, you want to know how I made them right? Of course, of course...I'll stop blabbering on.
What you'll need to make DIY cork building blocks:
- 4 sheets of 12" x 12" cork tiles - I bought my four pack at Walmart for $14.
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks - You could also use rubber cement, but I didn't have any on hand.
- Utility knife
- Level - A T-square would work too, but I like the width of the level for making the blocks.
- Non-serrated sharp kitchen knife
- Hand sander
- Cutting surface - I used a bamboo cutting board, but cardboard would work too.
How to make the DIY cork building blocks:
- Glue all four sheets of the 12" x 12" cork together, one on top of the other. That's how I created thick building blocks.
- Use the width of the level to guide the width of your blocks and trace along the edge with the utility knife.
- Keep cutting along the line you traced in step 2. My utility knife couldn't cut all the way through the layers, so I used a sharp non-serrated kitchen knife to finish cutting. Make sure you cut on top of some cardboard or a cutting board! And please note that the cork will crumble quite a bit. So yes, it does get messy!
- Sand all cut edges. K liked to help with this job.
I cut a variety of shapes, mostly squares and rectangles that were the same width as the level. I made 22 blocks in total for the price of $14, which is pretty darn good! Not quite the same deal as my DIY color blocks, but still an amazing price point!
Then they're ready for playing with.
I love how these DIY cork building blocks turned out. They don't look quite the same as the store bought Korxx blocks, but I'm secretly hoping that I win a set.
Check out our other homemade building blocks:
