From 2014-2016 I chronicled my crafty endeavors on the site Adventures-in-Making. I’ve selected a few of those DIY’s, Recipes, and other posts to share on the site.

Since this month’s DIY Craft Challenge Theme is Glitter I started thinking about all the things that sparkle around the holidays… and obviously thought “Robot”.

Actually, I’m not sure why I went straight to our metal friends, but that’s what the DIY Craft Challenge is all about! It’s a jumping off point for all your great ideas. I think glitter, I think robots. It’s just fine!

I’ve been playing with projects that use wine corks, and decided with a little paint, wire, and decoration I could make some amazing little guys for my tree.

Supplies I used

• Wine Bottle Corks
• A large kitchen knife and cutting board
• Folk Art Metallic Acrylic Paint – in Gunmetal and Silver Sterling and paintbrush
• E6000® Craft Adhesive
• A nail and hammer and a scrap piece of wood (you could also use an awl)
• 18 Gauge Steel Galvanized Wire, needle nose pliers, and wire cutters
• Stud Earrings, buttons, and other decoration bits.

I used a few basic shapes to form my robots. Wheels were just thin slices off the corks. Bodies and heads were mainly full or shortened corks. Legs were cut long wise either in half or in quarters. I used a very sharp knife to cut several different shapes out and held those shapes together to see what looked “roboty” to me.

Once I decided on the shape of my robot, I painted each piece with the gunmetal color of acrylic. If you’re having trouble getting the paint to stick to the outside of the cork, rough it up a little with sandpaper.

After several (sloppy) coats of paint, I began drilling holes in my corks to run wire through. I love that using wire instead of glue means that the wheels, heads, and arms can all be spun or moved.

For the wheely robots, I ran the through the center body piece, and through each wheel.

Then secured the ends of the wire by making a loop with the wire, then folding the loops down against the wheel.

When I had a wire that I couldn’t run all the way through a piece, I applied a dab of E6000 adhesive to the end before pressing it into the cork.

I have a huge stash of old earrings that were donated to me, and some of them were absolutely perfect for decorating the robots. It’s okay that they are a little mismatched; their hearts are in the right place. (Get it?!)

I had a great time making these little guys… and playing with them. I absolutely love taking the opportunity to look at everything in a new way.

Breaking down robots into a few basic shapes, then building them from an unexpected material.

While you’re brainstorming for the DIY Challenge, I encourage you to take the chance to try something a little different. Take the theme and run with it.

If you ever make robots like these, be careful.

They can get rowdy and make a royal mess out of your other decorations… especially if they have help.

What does your brain go when you think Glitter?