I’ve had a stack of ceramic tiles sitting in a box in the craft room for a long time. I bought fully intending on glazing them and giving them as gifts…but like so many projects, this one fell by the wayside.
Well, I finally decided do something with those tiles. I turned them into coasters. After all, we could use some new ones.
the materials:
-masking tape (I used blue painter’s tape because that’s what we had at home)
-ceramic tiles
I bought these 4″x4″ tiles at Blick for 40-cents a piece. If you’re not near an art store, my friend Alena said she found similar tiles at Home Depot.
-paint & brushes
At first, I wanted to use Pebeo Porcelaine paint (it’s a glaze that you paint on, then bake in your oven). But I changed my mind: I didn’t want the tiles to be so shiny. So I used acrylic instead, and I’m glad I did. Acrylic allowed me more freedom with the designs than Pebeo would. It’s more liquidy and didn’t stick to the masking tape.
Ceramic Coasters
steps:
one
If your masking tape is more than 1/2″ wide, cut it into strips, lengthwise. This allows you to make smaller patterns.
two
Tape up your tile.
If you’re making yours to be a chevron tile, you’ll want to block off areas in a zig zag pattern (image on the right). This was a bit tedious for me, because I had to make sure all the tape edges lined up at the points. Luckily, the chevron was only one of the four patterns I made.
three
Rub down the tape to make sure the edges are flush to the tile. Now it’s time to paint! I used a 1-inch wide brush and swept wide strokes over the entire tile (including the sides). I did two coats of paint here, letting it dry in between coats.
four
Let the paint dry for a couple hours. Once it’s completely dry, peel off the masking tape. If you like the coaster how it is, you can move on to the next step.
If you want to add more dimension to your coaster, you can paint it a second time with a contrasting color. You will need to re-tape it, this time taping on top of the areas you just painted. Once the painted areas are all masked off, paint over the entire coaster again, this time with your contrasting color. Let it dry completely, then remove the masking tape.
five
It’s time to seal the tile. I used an acrylic varnish and painted two coats on to each tile. This makes the tile slightly glossy and helps protect the paint job.
six
I added a felt square to the bottom of each tile, to prevent the tiles from scratching our tables. I cut each piece to 4″x4″, then adhered it to the tile. I had felt with an adhesive backing, but you can also use regular felt and some Tacky glue.
The finished coasters?
Pretty cool, right? My fave is the neon orange one. Best of all, this project cost me $0. I had all the materials at home. Not too shabby, right?
Your turn!
