I love the warmth and softness of cork. The rolls of caramel-y cork shelf liner scream at me every time I pass them in the store, so this time, I gave in to their pleas for purchase. And with fall quickly approaching, it seems like a great time to bring in the warmth and natural, woodsy look of cork. I paired the thin cork sheeting with some natural linen, scratchy sisal and sheer tissue paper to create a fall-inspired armature for the table. Since we don’t really get fall here in southern California, this is probably the closest I will come to integrating the warm caramel browns of true fall leaves into our home. Happy fall! — Brenna

Read the full how-to after the jump!

Materials

• cork shelf liner
• scrap fabric or paper
• jute or sisal rope
• scissors
• wire
• wire cutters
• tissue paper (I used waxed, as it has a nice translucency.)
• hot glue gun and glue
• glass hurricane candle enclosures

Instructions

1. Cut three lengths of rope. Fold two of them in half.

2. Use the glue gun to glue the rope together in an interesting shape. This will be the base of the hurricane lantern.

3. Once the ropes are secured together (you can flip them if there is too much glue showing), add the wire to make them stiff.

4. To add the wire, start at the base of the rope. Twist the rope so it unravels slightly, and insert the end of the wire. Wrap the wire around the rope the same way it is twisted. As you wrap, untwist the rope slightly so the wire goes inside the three twists of rope. Work until you get to the end.

5. Once all of the rope is wired, place your hurricane glass on top of the rope spiral. Bend each wired rope up the sides of the glass hurricane.

6. To make the rope look like branches, separate the rope and tie knots in the small pieces.

7. Make leaves from the cork sheeting. Remove the paper backing from the adhesive side of the shelf liner. Press pieces of scrap fabric or paper to the sticky side of the cork. Cut leaf shapes with scissors.

8. To adhere the leaves to the rope ends, slightly bend one pointy side of the leaf and put a little dollop of hot glue there. Wrap the end of the cork leaf around the end of the rope and hold until set.

9. To make the flowers, take small sections of rope and tie a knot near the end. Fray the end of the rope, and trim to about half an inch.

10. Cut long strips of the tissue paper about 2 to 3 inches wide and 18 inches long. Gather one side of the tissue and pinch it between your fingers.

11. Apply a small amount of hot glue to the underside of the knot on the rope, and press the gathered side of the tissue paper to adhere.

Done! You can also make a loose version for tabletop decor. Enjoy!

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