How To: make a pinboard house

These little houses can be made to hold a collection of pins, or made to be used like a regular bulletine board. You can get really ambitious and make a bunch of houses, hang them side by side for a huge town pin board! Or experiment with different sizes of cork to make your house special.



Step one: You will need to buy some cork. You can find already cut squares at craft supply shops, office depots, etc. Or you can look for larger peices at hardware stores. If you have an old cork board (the kind that come in a frame) that is falling apart…cut the useable cork out and use that.

I purchased 10×10inch cork squares in a thicker chunky texture. This stuff was a little bit harder to cut, but still worked out fine. Since you want to be able to push thumbtacks or pins into the cork you may need to double up layers if the cork is very thin.

Step two: Once you have decided on the size, leave one square as in (or cut yourself a square) and cut the second piece into a triangle. An exacto blade and ruler make this part a little easier. Don’t try and cut through in one slice, smaller passes of the blade will make less crumbly cork all over the table.

Step three: Decide on your fabric for the house. If you choose one for the roof and one for the square building use a sewing machine to stich them together. If you would like to add windows, doors, or any other bits to your house sew them on now. You can use tight zigzag stitch around the doors and windows. If you want to add a facew to your house atleast handstitch the mouth at this time, otherwise once the fabric is against the corkit becomes harder to work with.



Step four: Now you want to join your two pieces of cork. If you are making a small house with thinner cork board you can use a standard stapler to staple it across the join. Staple all the way up on side, flp it over. Then before stapling the other side add a line of glue between where the two pieces meet. Then continue on the other side with staples.

If you are making a large house with thicker heavier cork use a staple gun. Make sure to put a layer of glue between as well. Allow glue to fully dry before next step.

Step five: Align the fabric underneath the cork house so that the sewn line lays on the stapled line. Then slowly pull the fabric around and staple it to the back. Don’t worry too much about it being super neat because the back will be covered.

Then cut out a piece of felt slightly smaller then your cork house. Cut a small slit near the top and insert a loop of ribbon or string for hanging the house on the wall.



Step six: Once you have the ribbon in place cover the back of your house with glue and press the felt down. Again allow the glue to fully dry before you do anything else (overnight is best) Once your house is dry you can hang it from the wall! If yo have not added eyes, you can glue felt eyes, or buttons to the front.

feel free to use these instructions for your own use, but not for resale…thanks!