Homemade Tile Coasters: The Update

Three years have gone by since I first wrote about my DIY tile coasters.  It was a cute and simple project using ceramic tiles from the home improvement store and scrapbook paper.  I’ve been using my coasters (almost every day!) since that time and they’ve worked great.

In fact I like them so much, that I recently made a couple more sets of coasters and decided to do this quick little update.

Since I first wrote about this project, I’ve been asked the same question several times by those who made these coasters but then report that hot beverages stick to the coasters and they would like to know what went wrong.  And unfortunately because this problem has never happened to me, I don’t really know what went wrong . . . and I wish I had a better answer than that.

The best I can do is to suggest variables in the materials used to see if perhaps they used something different from me that gave different results.  Here are the materials I use:

Homemade Mod Podge:  Every time I’ve made this project I’ve used my homemade Mod Podge that’s a simple mix of equal parts white glue and water.  It’s always worked perfectly for these coasters and is very cheap to make too.  For those who report stickiness, an option would be to not use store bought Mod Podge and just try this homemade mixture instead which I think is a bit thinner than the store bought varieties.

Sealer:  I’m still using up the first can of sealer I bought for this project which is Aleene’s Spray Acrylic Sealer in Gloss Finish. I just do one light coat of the sealer on my coasters.  I always wonder if other sealers might be giving different results when people report stickiness.  Again, I don’t really know if the sealer is the problem, but I CAN say that the Aleene’s brand (which I purchased at Michaels Craft Store) has performed very well for me.

Scrapbook Paper:  Each time I’ve made these coasters I’ve used scrapbook paper which is a heavier type of paper.  Someday I’d like to give this a try with glossy photos, or something printed on computer paper, but that’s still on my to-do list!  The paper is probably not part of the stickiness problem, but I thought I would add the type of paper I’ve used to the list of variables just in case.

 

Two More New Sets of Coasters

In the last few months I’ve made a couple more sets of these coasters.  They’re kind of addicting to make because they go together pretty quickly and there are so many colorful scrapbook paper designs to choose from.

One set of coasters was for my son to use in his new apartment.  This gave me a chance to look for some “manly” scrapbook papers which was something a little different.  We both really liked the ones that looked like maps.

Last December I bought some holiday scrapbook papers with the intention of making a set of coasters for the Christmas season.  And then things got busy as things so often do around Christmas and I never got around to it.  Finally in February I made my Christmas coasters.  I told myself instead of being behind, I was just super duper ahead of the game for NEXT Christmas. 🙂

You can read the complete instructions for making these tile coasters on the original post here:  DIY Tile Coasters.

A very brief set of instructions here is to put a coat of Mod Podge on your tile, then lay on your cut piece of scrapbook paper, cover with another coat of Mod Podge, and then let it dry.  Once dry, spray with a light coat of sealer and let that dry.  Finish by sticking some felt on the back of your coasters.

So . . .  keep me out of the craft store.  Every time I see scrapbook papers, I want to make more coasters!