Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Canape' knife tutorial...



This week's challenge was to reuse something you would usually throw away....which gave me the perfect excuse to use some old wine corks I'd been saving.

I had several old canapé knives that had torn up and faded handles. I was planning on ditching them too.

Instead, I took a mallet to one of them and cracked the rest of the handle off.
( I didn't want to bust them all until I knew this would work.)


Next, I pried the little bits from the edge using some pliers.

Once I got it clean, this little round part just slipped off...and conveniently left a little half inch tip.


I made a slit in the end of the cork and then simply shoved the little tip end into it. The beauty of cork is that it closes back on itself.
The fit was super tight so I decided not to use anything to hold it in place. I can always add it later if I need it.


The first one turned out so well, that I went ahead and made the rest of them...all 6!






Now all you need is my cheese ball recipe to go with them:

This stuff is awesome....people always ask me to bring it to parties.

Ingredients:

1 dry package Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
2 packages softened cream cheese
Spice Islands Herbed Pepper Blend*

Directions:

Mix the first 2 ingredients together and form into a ball. Place in the refrigerator to harden up a bit....about an hour.
Pour a few tablespoons of pepper blend into a small dish. Then roll your cheese ball into the spice blend until it is totally covered.
Refrigerate until serving. I serve this with crackers and/or veggies....

You can also halve this recipe. It is WONDERFUL in place of mayo on sandwiches.

* if you can't find this particular blend, you can make your own using cracked black pepper, garlic, italian seasonings and salt. Just be sure to TASTE the seasoning to get a good balance.

30 comments:

  1. If I was there I would have LOTS of corks to craft with. :) Good idea to use them for handles. Cheese ball is always a great party food. I am pretty sure we don't have any of those spice blends around here. :/ Have a great day. Tammy

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  2. Fab-u-riffic! You always come up with the best ideas. And thanks for the recipe.

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  3. These would make the cutest hostess gifts! Or how about saving the cork from wedding champagne & making one for a bride and groom.

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  4. Btw I thought this was so cool that I submitted it to Craft. Hope they feature it.

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  5. Hi Val
    Your knives look great. You always have such wonderful ideas.
    Thanks for your comments. I wish we could take pottery classes together :)
    Lindsay
    x

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  6. They turned out so cute! Love the new handles and the cheeseball recipe sounds delicious. Too bad I've sworn to get back on my healthy eating plan starting tomorrow.

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  7. Very cool idea! And BTW, I checked out your P90X blog because I have the DVDs myself, but have never gotten past the 4th day. Ugh! It's sooooooo hard! Good luck! I'll check back in with you. You've motivated me. My sister and I might try it out again.

    Thanks!

    Melanie
    a fellow IronCrafter (but haven't done it in a while. Do you see a pattern??)

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  8. This is such a good idea and it is an elegant and sophisticated one, too. I can just envision them on the cover of Food and Wine magazine on a cheese board. I am going to link to your post on my DIY page. Love when I see clever ideas like this. I also pinned it.

    My best-Diane

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  9. How brilliant is this!!! Love, love, love it. I have sooooooooooo many corks that I save an make into wreaths and such, but I never thought of this. Thank you so much for sharing.~~Robyne~~ btw: your chees ball sounds so yummy!

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  10. Genius! Those are great Val. I wish I had some corks--guess that's what I get for buying the cheap wine with screw on caps!! :) The cheese ball sounds really good--much better than the cheese balls I live with! :)

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  11. The cork idea is awesome! Thank you for sharing.

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  12. I love this! Just stumbled across your blog and am having fun exploring. Great ideas!

    Jenny
    www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com

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  13. This will make the perfect gift to a wineyard owner i cook for. What do you give the man who can buy anything his heart desires? Well i just found it! THANK YOU!
    Chef Jenny

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  14. I wanted to let you know that I linked this post in my blog entry on wine cork uses. What a great idea!

    http://iwanttomakethis.com/

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  15. Great idea can't wait to try!

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  16. I came over from Roadkill Rescue where this was featured today. I am so glad I did, a bonus recipe to boot! I just about threw one of those knives away, the wooden handle was too rounded out to hold the blade anymore. Thanks for the repurpose!

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  17. Thanks for the idea, we have alot of corks and are always looking for ideas on what to make with them to sell at our Bazzar to make money for our church. can't wait to tell all the ladys about your great idea. thank you thank you.

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  18. LOVE THIS!!! You should enter this in the cork DIY Design Challenge on About.com!!! http://video.about.com/recreate/DIY-Challenge.htm

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  19. Love this idea! I hope it's okay if I feature these tomorrow!!
    -Holly
    www.lifeasathrifter.com

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  20. Love this idea! I hope it's okay if I feature these tomorrow!!
    -Holly
    www.lifeasathrifter.com

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  21. popped by from Holly...this totally rocks!

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  23. Just made these. What an awesome idea! Thanks for posting.

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  24. The DIY Wine Cork Canape Knives are so cool. Featured you on Homemade Wine Cork Crafts

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  25. Where did you find canape knives? I absolutely love these!!

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  26. Hello, I would love to feature a picture of yours on our site, we will give you attribution which would include a link to your site, and I was wondering if you could please send me your email address so I could give you more information.

    Thanks again!

    -Sarah Connolly
    sconnolly318@gmail.com

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  27. Where did you find the cheese spreader piece to insert into the cork? Is there a kitchen supply store that I could order those in bulk from? Craig Campana shamrocktie@gmail.com

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  28. cool idea!

    please take a look at my custom wine cork art:

    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.621982829297.2292590.3607674&type=1&l=c6bb277c6f

    Thanks!

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  29. I love these cork bottle butter knives. Really an awesome idea.
    Thanks for sharing.
    FABBY

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