Start with a cork and end with a bug - Walt's Poppers.

Walt's Poppers - amazing! Though these popping bugs are nice to look at, that's not what they are made for. These miniature works of art are true work horses - what many anglers turn to (and think of) when needing a "bug".

Walt Cary began his fly-tying career as a bartender in the 1950s. After he uncorked a bottle of champagne he went to toss out the cork when he thought what a terrible waste of a good material. With that Walt began using old corks, whittling them down and painting them. Over time, Walt perfected the art and created a very successful business. His creations involve a standard cork body which he hand selects. He sands the cork, fills in any cracks, and then puts it through a ten-step painting and finishing process which includes at least seven coats of paint. Truly a work of art - both on land and in the water!

Yard Sale for the Cure hosted by Jelinek Cork and the Cork House

Yard Sale for the Cure: "The stuff you no longer need will help fund the cure for breast cancer".

On Saturday May 30, 2009 Jelinek Cork hosted a Yard Sale for the Cure at the Cork House (the Jelinek Cork showroom located in Oakville, ON). The Yard Sale for the Cure is an organization that raises money for Breast Cancer research and treatment by holding a massive series of Yard Sales in selected neighbourhoods across Canada.

The Jelinek Cork/Cork House sale began early with the event setup - tables full of all sorts of items - from cork items to clothing, from kids toys to new designer shoes, from lemonade stands to bbq hot dogs! Many people donated items and time to help with this event.

The day was incredible - a huge success with hundreds of people stopping by to browse, purchase and offer support. Jelinek Cork was very excited to raise $2000 for breast cancer research.

Thank you to everyone for helping support this cause.

A little about finishing cork floors with the natural vegetable oil finish.

Q:
Could you tell me a little about cork floor finishes, specifically the vegetable oil finish (Jelinek Cork Comfort Finish Flooring)?

A:
Cork flooring is not impervious to stains and oils unless it is coated with some sort of finish. In fact, an unfinished floor takes stain very well, thereby allowing the floor to be stained various colors before being finished. Once coated, the finish is what protects the floor from further staining. All cork floors need some sort of finish to protect them. The most common cork floor finish is polyurethane. Polyurethane is a fairly flexible finish that allows the floor to provide somewhat of a 'cork feel' while it protects. After that there are more rigid finishes such as aluminum oxide, vinyl, and epoxy (in order of rigidity). The more rigid the finish the more it protects the floor but the less the natural properties of cork are available. For example, one reason people purchase cork flooring is for the soft, warm feeling underfoot. A cork floor finished with epoxy is so rigid that you loose this feeling entirely.

The natural vegetable oil finish is the opposite of a rigid finish. This finish maintains the feel and attributes of cork while protecting against spills and stains. It does not protect against heavy pressure points which can cause indentations (eg. a heavy desk with narrow legs will create an indentation in the floor unless furniture pads are placed under the desk legs). The other nice thing about a vegetable oil finish is that it is a natural product unlike all of the rigid finish products - its main component is "safflower oil".

A floor can be coated with vegetable oil by hand (using a rag to rub the oil into the floor) or by a machine. It does not get heated. Multiple applications of the oil are applied to create the finished floor. If finishing the floor using vegetable oil by hand (can be done at home), 3 coats of oil are recommended. The same method is used to refinish a floor if it needed to be done. However, typically only one coat would need to be applied in order to refinish the floor. Cork floors finished with the vegetable oil finish need to be cleaned with a special cleaner (called Dergos natural oil cleaner, available from corkstore.com) about once a month. There is a very small amount of vegetable oil in the cleaner that enhances the existing finish. By doing this, you generally would never need to refinish the floor (rubbing oil into the floor). In comparison, a floor finished with polyurethane often needs a new coat of urethane every 5 years or so (depending on traffic). Recoating a urethane floor involves abrading the existing finish (using either a chemical abrader or a physical abrader such as sandpaper). The new coat of urethane is applied wet and allowed to dry. It is a day long process. With the vegetable oil finish, this type of recoating is not necessary provided the floor is maintained using the cleaner.

The Jelinek Cork flooring finished with natural vegetable oil is called the Comfort Finish line. Please contact us for further details or you can order online at corkstore.com

For more information on cork flooring visit http://jelinek.com/flooring.htm

The process of making a natural wine cork.

After the cork bark is harvested from the cork oak tree, how does it become a wine cork?

After harvesting the cork bark off cork oak trees, the bark is gathered and placed in large piles waiting to be loaded onto trucks and transported to the processing factories. The health of the cork oaks is not effected …. The same tree can be harvested over and over again every nine years.

The bark is cut into strips by a very sharp knife. The thickness of the strips determines the length of the cork stoppers. In the above photo the strips are quite thin …. about half an inch or 12.5mm. This means the stoppers punched from these strips would be ½” or 12.5mm in length, about half the length of a standard wine cork often used on olive bottles or spice bottles.

In this picture the stoppers are being punched from the bark strips by hand, the strips are about 1-1/2” long or 38 mm. These are wine stopper corks. The operator must be very precise. After the corks are all punched out of each strip the leftover strips (those with the holes in them) are called “cork waste”. This name is misleading because in cork there is no waste. These leftover strips are later ground up and turned into cork grain. Cork grain is further processed and turned into other products such as cork floors, walls, insulating materials, bulletin boards, coasters, and much more.

Punching stoppers out of cork strips can also be done by automatic machines such as the one pictured above. This is a safer and quicker process but not as exact as hand punching.

After the cork stoppers are punched out they are sorted into various qualities – usually seven standard qualities - by expert sorters who can quickly and effectively recognize the difference between each cork. Qualities are determined by the number of pores, cracks, or other imperfections.

Here you can see the sorters surrounded by wicker baskets. They pick and choose the corks and throw them into the designated seven different quality baskets without even glancing up. They seldom miss their shots, even those they throw side-handed or over their shoulders!

Following these procedures the corks are washed, branded with company logos, treated with a surface coating to make insertion into and out of bottles easier and smoother, and finally sterilized and packed in hermetically sealed heavy duty poly bags which are not opened until they arrive at the bottling line.

Vegetable oil + cork = Jelinek Cork Comfort Finish Cork Flooring

So what do you get when you take a beautiful cork floor and stain and seal it with natural vegetable oil? Jelinek Cork Comfort Finish cork flooring.

Cork, as you know, is an all natural product. It comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. Cork flooring needs to be finished in order to protect it from daily use. The most eco-friendly floor finish is a natural product -- vegetable oil.



Jelinek Cork's Comfort Finish flooring line can be stained various shades. The stain is also formulated from vegetable oil.

This natural and environmentally friendly surface finish protects the cork floor while maintaining the look and feel of the cork. The finish gives the floor a very soft feeling - some describe it by saying it feels like leather.



Typically, these floors do not need to be recoated - even after years of use. About once a month, the floor needs to be cleaned with a special cleaner which will reapply a small amount of oil to the finish.

So there you have it - cork flooring + vegetable oil = a truly environmentally friendly plus gorgeous floor.

Heidi Ackerman at Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion week

Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion Week has been on since April 21. On Friday April 24 2009, Heidi Ackerman's new collection of Avant Garde and eco-friendly fashions will be featured.

Heidi Ackerman uses eco-friendly materials including cork fabric in her designs. Jelinek Cork is proud to sponsor Heidi Ackerman as she continues to push the boundaries of Canadian Fashion while honouring her commitment to responsible and eco-friendly design.

Jelinek Cork at the Halton Eco Festival

This past Saturday, Jelinek Cork was pleased to be a part of the 9th Annual Halton Eco Festival in Oakville, Ontario. This free-to-attend environmental fair brought visitors from around the GTA to listen to speakers address sustainability as well as visit exhibitors booths and learn about their "green" products and services.

At the Jelinek Cork booth, visitor response was amazing. Many visitors knew of cork only as a bulletin board or wine stopper. Others were more knowledgeable about the many uses of cork and many already use cork in their homes - on their walls or floors. All visitors were impressed with the versatility of cork and the many products created from this natural and sustainable product. Along with cork fabric and cork hand bags, Jelinek Cork flooring was of great interest. The Jelinek Cork Comfort Line of cork flooring was a huge hit. The Comfort Line has a natural vegetable oil finish which protects the floor while maintaining the natural look and feel of cork.

We heard many great comments from our visitors on Saturday. Some of the more common ones were,
"Wow! This has to be one of the most sustainable flooring options."
"I had no idea you could do so much with cork!"
"It's SO comfortable underfoot! and warm!"

We love cork!

Thanks to the Oakville Community Centre For Peace, Ecology And Human Rights for organizing this event.