Thanks to customers of our brew-on-premise wine store, Wine Kitz Pickering, we are kept in a steady supply of used corks. At first, we were recycling them through various local recycling centres, but when many of those stopped collecting, we wanted to find a creative - and eco-friendly - way to reuse the corks so as to prevent them from ending up in landfills. Our shop, petit chateau (French for little castle), was thus born.

Here you'll find all of the corks we currently have available for purchase. All of the proceeds from sales of our corks are donated to charitable organizations, and all of the time and resources needed to run the shop (including printing and shipping supplies) are donated. We ship using 100% reused packaging because it's eco-friendly and low-impact, and also to save money (which means that we can donate more money to charity). Please view our Shop Policies page to learn more.

----- Our Packaging -----

Our corks are packaged in red plastic bags used to deliver newspapers and flyers // They are then wrapped in recycled paper or paper packaging (usually shopping bags) // Shipping labels are printed onto reused (single-sided) paper and then placed inside a plastic sleeve made from a reused mailing sleeve (for commercial flyers) to affix to the parcel. When possible, we include a tiny 'thank you' notebook made from repurposed materials (available in our sister shop - www.thepixie.etsy.com ).

----- Charitable Donations -----

All proceeds from cork sales are donated to charitable organizations and/or used to fund community art projects and random acts of cheer. Learn more on my blog at www.anatomyofasummer.com (under the section "Past Projects")

TOTAL DONATIONS SO FAR: over $360

Thanks for your generous support :)

----- Full Disclosure -----

+ The sale of 100 corks nets approx. $4.52 after fees and expenses (including $0.25 per order to cover ink and tape for packaging); the amount is slightly less for orders of 200+ corks, simply because the fees are higher.

+ Proceeds from photographic prints are roughly as follows: $2.50 for 4x6 // $8.45 for 5x7 // $16.75 for 8x10

+ I ship packages using recycled materials, to avoid incurring additional expenses, and because it is more eco-friendly. That helps me donate more money to charity.

+ I donate the time required to count, package and ship corks, and to maintain this shop and customer relations. I provide myself with no monetary compensation related to cork sales.