Sunday, June 3, 2012

Tutorial: Tile Coaster

This is a very easy, highly customizable, and super budget project.  Plus, now you won't have rings on your wood table from your sweating glasses and bottles.  Cheers to summer!  And to coasters!

I saw this project idea on Pinterest and decided to try it for myself.
After the jump, you can see the full tutorial.

First, get your materials together.
For this project you will need
-4" white tiles (I got mine from Lowes)
-magazines, photos or whatever you want your design to be
-paper cutter
-mod podge
-paint brush
-acrylic spray
-sticky surface protectors





   Once you have the supplies, choose what you would like on your coasters.  You can use cute patterned craft paper, a great wrapping paper, maps, pictures, or whatever flat image you would like.  I just looked through a Real Simple magazine.
Cut your chosen images to be just smaller than 4"x 4".  I cut my squares to have side lengths of 3 7/8 inches.  Then, using your paintbrush, paint a very thin layer of mod podge and place the image on the tile.

    Slide your hand over the image repeatedly to eliminate air or mod podge bubbles.  Let it dry for about an hour.








    Repeat these steps to create as many coasters as you would like.










    Then take your tiles outside and spread them out on a paintable surface (old newspaper, cardboard, or scrap piece of wood).  Spray the clear acrylic from about 12" above the tiles.  Spray a light coat over all of the magnets.  It's better to go over the surfaces a few times than spray too much all at once.  I did about three thin coats, leaving 10 minutes of dry time between each coat.

    After that, it was just a waiting game.  I waited a few hours for them to dry.  Then they were ready to get to work.  Cheers!




Time for the budget break down:
$1.00  -  ten white tiles (They are only 10 cents each at Lowes.  I was so excited!0
$3.19  -  sticky surface protector cirlces (I got these at Target)
$3.97  - acrylic spray from Lowes
free    -  images are from an old Real Simple magazine I had laying around
free    -  mod podge  (I have several bottles.  You can find it at Michaels for a few bucks)

Total: almost $9 with tax
I'm pretty excited about this.  Next time I make them I will only need to buy more 10 cent tiles.  I can't wait to make these as personalized gifts for friends.

Enjoy!


2 comments:

  1. Katie - these are cool! I've also made coasters using clear glass squares and cool wall paper or scrapbook/textured paper, using mod podge to adhere the paper to the bottom of the glass, and then another layer to seal the paper on the bottom side, and stick felt or rubber pads to the bottom. It works, but I love the white background on these - a little more modern looking. Love your site :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Nikki! I like the glass tile idea. I will have to try that. I also thought that using pictures and making them look like polaroids might be cool. The possibilities are endless! :)

      Delete