Make a Dollhouse Chair from your Champagne Corks
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12.31.08
Here is a way to keep busy when everyone else is having a good time and you are the designated driver: Take all of those champagne corks with their wire cages and recycle them into little models of "the chair that has seated millions"- a classic Thonet cafe chair. Learn how at Instructables.
And don't forget, champagne corks can travel up to 50 miles per hour-remove them safely:
From the Washington Post:
* Chill your champagne or other sparkling wine to 45 degrees Fahrenheit before opening. Corks are more likely to pop unexpectedly from warm bottles.
* Don't shake or agitate the bottle before opening.
* Take precautions from the very start of the opening process: You can't count on that little wire cage to hold a ready-to-burst cork from popping. (Fountain says the pressure in that bottle is between 50 pounds per square inch and 90 PSI -- the same, she says, as the pressure in the tire of a double-decker bus.)
* Remove the cage. Drape the cork end of the bottle with a towel, and grab it.
* Point the bottle at a 45-degree angle, away from yourself and any bystanders.
* Slowly and firmly twist the bottle while holding the cork -- still sheathed in that towel -- steady. When the cork's just about to pop, press it down slightly to keep it under control as it eases out.
* Never open any sparkling beverage with a corkscrew.
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Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
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and don't forget to check out Planet Green's Buy Green: Pink Champagne guide! http://planetgreen.discovery.com/buying-guides/buy-green-pink-champagne.html
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