How to Make a Personalised Wine Box
- DifficultyMedium
Nothing says ‘You’re special’ like a homemade gift. This wonderful personalised wooden wine box, bearing a handcrafted design, is surprisingly straightforward to make. All you need to do is follow Dremel’s inspiring tutorial. Whether you are after an easy DIY birthday gift, want to surprise a newly engaged couple or wish your wine-loving parents well on their wedding anniversary, it’s a truly unique way to say congratulations. Just get your Dremel tools out and follow our master woodworker’s lead.
Let's go - step by step
Video instructions
Pick the design for your personalised wine box
The first step in creating this cute DIY gift is dreaming up your design. Simply sketch a design the size of the lid onto a piece of paper or use a design app on your computer. You can embellish the box with drill holes, pyrography or a combination of both. If you’re not feeling inspired, don’t worry, there are plenty of pretty pictures and patterns online for you to choose from. Just pick your favourite one, print it and cut it to size with a pair of scissors.
Transfer your design
It’s time to transfer your design onto the wooden lid. Cut a sheet of carbon paper to size, place it with its dark coating face down on the wood and place the cut-out design on top. Secure both pieces of paper with painter’s tape to prevent them from moving. Trace your design with a pencil, and mark drilling holes carefully with a bradawl and hammer, to transfer it onto the lid. Now remove the tape and both pieces of paper to reveal your design.
Cover the reverse side with painter’s tape
When drilling holes, there’s always a chance wood will splinter, chip or tear. This is especially true when punching through a thin or laminated layer of wood. Luckily, splintering is easy to avoid. Simply put a layer of painter’s tape over the drilling area on the reverse side of the wooden lid. Don’t be tempted to skip this step: you’ll be done in about ten seconds flat and will be saving yourself a whole lot of trouble later.
Secure the lid with a clamp or vice
Before you fire up your Multi-Tool, make sure you clamp the wooden lid securely to your table or work bench using a clamp or vice. In doing so, you will ensure the lid stays in place while you drill into it, making your efforts prettier, more precise and safer to boot. Place a wooden plank between your work surface and the wine box lid to protect the table from unsightly drilling damage. Now get your Dremel tools out to personalise your wine box!
Drill the holes to personalise the wine box
Your design is in place, the lid is clamped… Time to get drilling. Choose the right-sized drilling bit by comparing the bits in your Precision Drill Bit Set (628) to your design. Screw on the Multi Chuck (4486) , insert the correct drilling bit and secure tightly. For our design, we’ve used the 1.6 mm and 3.2 mm bits. Kit yourself out with safety gear. Now carefully drill all same-sized holes before switching to a different bit. Wipe the lid’s surface regularly to remove sawdust which might obstruct your view of the design. Well done, with all the holes punched you’re halfway there already.
Trace the rest of the design with the VersaTip
Switch to your Dremel® VersaTip pyrography tool to apply the rest of your design. The Cutting Knife accessory (202) is perfect for drawing poker-straight lines – use an aluminium ruler for extra guidance if you like. For a design featuring multiple or freehand elements, the versatile Pyrography Accessories Set (204) might come in handy. To switch the device on you push the blue lever up, press the trigger down and lock the tool. The lower blue button allows you to regulate the temperature. It’s wise to test the temperature on a piece of scrap material first.
Clean the lid of your personalised wine box
Let’s dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Remove the clamp, turn over the lid and peel off the painter’s tape. Sand down the lid with sanding paper that’s not too coarse, to smooth any ridges and remove any traces of carbon paper. Wipe the sanded surface down with a cloth to get rid of (saw) dust. As a final step, line the personalised wine box with wood wool and place a bottle of wonderful wine inside. There, your classy and inspirational DIY gift is ready to be given.