ideas for DIY coasters

I have been wondering about coasters, not crappy ones that are only like a 1/8 Inch piece of cardboard with a design on it.

I want to know about the ones that are made out of cork or something.
I still want to have some cool design on it, but i would want them to last longer then several beers.

how would you guys go about doing it?
cut some cork board, slap a design on it, and then seal it with something?

I took some old beat up vinyls and cut the center out and vinyl'd over the top.

GusWatab said:

I took some old beat up vinyls and cut the center out and vinyl'd over the top.

Click to expand...

i like it, but i want something more personal.... and i am not old enough to have used vinyls

capt_crazy said:

i like it, but i want something more personal.... and i am not old enough to have used vinyls

Click to expand...

Why don't you use the cds from your ex's then?

Maybe remove the label from a 6 pack of your favorite beer and glue them onto a blank coasters and then vinyl over them?

use 4" tiles. Put felt or cork on the bottom. On the top you can put whatever you want...either paint something a stencil or put stickers or pictures you printed. then seal the whole thing with several layers of clear acrylic (spray can or brush on). They actually sell something specifically made for this a hobby shops, but i cant recall the name.

I went to Home Depot and picked up some of the solid wood flooring samples, cut off the tongue, and voila! Free hardwood coasters! I have a brew sitting on a bamboo one as we speak.

Atl300zx said:

use 4" tiles. Put felt or cork on the bottom.

Click to expand...

This is what I did... I had a handful of 4"x4" tiles left over from some previous projects so I decided to put them to good use. I got some felt glued to the bottom and they make some excellent coasters!

I haven't bothered to go as far as trying to get a design on them yet but I'm pretty happy with just the tile since they're a textured tile that's not the standard high gloss.

I like the hardwood samples, then you can burn any disign into the top you want clear coat and your done

I have free cork samples from HD, Lowes charges for them. I think they're on to us!

LOL I work at lowe's and frequently have to cover the floorig department, and yes you and everybody else is looking for free stuff! lol it's all good

I came across a cool idea which is to take some scrabble tiles and come up with 4 - 4 letter words and glue them together. Here is a link to what it looks like
http://media-cache8.pinterest.com/upload/45528646202746793_n7q4VAwA.jpg

If you have a food saver, you can get a thin role of cork from a craft supplies shop, veneer and some 1/8" mdf from wood craft (or other wood suppliers).Cut the veneer, cork and mdf into strips about 8" (to fit the food saver bags), using typebond III (water proof pva glue) in between the layers you can sandwich them in the wood saver bags and use these as a cheap vacuum press to laminate the pieces together. Then you can finish the veneer with Poly and then cut out what ever shape you want for your coaster. We made coasters like this at a wood shop that I worked at but we cut them with a laser and engraved an image on them also. If you have skills you can play with inlay work on the veneer surface to personalize them.

Clem

i have hurd and want to try it but cut up some cork in any design and use old bottle caps from your favorite beers then fiberglass resin over them then polish to clear the you got some custom coasters. havent tried it yet but will be soon i'll post pics when i finish some

thought this was pretty cool,
http://theatreprojects.blogspot.com/2010/11/coasters-for-christmas.html

Mrott said:

This is what I did... I had a handful of 4"x4" tiles left over from some previous projects so I decided to put them to good use. I got some felt glued to the bottom and they make some excellent coasters!

I haven't bothered to go as far as trying to get a design on them yet but I'm pretty happy with just the tile since they're a textured tile that's not the standard high gloss.

Click to expand...

I agree. I bought some at a trader's market that they use in Spanish style home. Just some little hand painted terra cotta tiles that I stuck little round self adhesive felt pads on the corners of. Works well and looks nice.

Rivenin said:

thought this was pretty cool,
http://theatreprojects.blogspot.com/2010/11/coasters-for-christmas.html

Click to expand...

oh man, i am going to have to try this! that looks so cool!

Rivenin said:

thought this was pretty cool,
http://theatreprojects.blogspot.com/2010/11/coasters-for-christmas.html

Click to expand...

i like this way better then how i posted it think i am making a trip to the art store to see if i can find the molds

A small chainsaw with a good sharp chain and 4" log of some nice kind of wood would do the trick. It's called "cutting cookies".

Rivenin said:

thought this was pretty cool,
http://theatreprojects.blogspot.com/2010/11/coasters-for-christmas.html

Click to expand...

I am going to have to do this. I think I will get some more custom caps made with my logo and have custom coasters.

I have small squares of slate from Lowes or HD. rustic, look great with my cedar furniture.

Just a heads up about the resin they used. It is very brittle once cured, if you drop it on the floor it will shatter.

There are other resins (Alumilite)that are just as clear and more durable once hardened.

Tony3696 said:

I went to Home Depot and picked up some of the solid wood flooring samples, cut off the tongue, and voila! Free hardwood coasters! I have a brew sitting on a bamboo one as we speak.

Click to expand...

The closest Home Despot is 40 mins away. We had one in town but they went under in no time cause they are so damned expensive. Menard's opened up across the road and kicked their ass. Wonder if Maynard's had flooring samples? Hmmmm.....

These were the ones from our wedding last year. Just cut up some alder and pine about 3/8" on the chop saw. If your blade is sharp enough, you won't need to sand them. Then a couple coats of clear and you're good! They were a hit. We made about 200 of them and let people take them as gifts. Also did this for the cake rounds and chargers. My wife has a laser machine at work (she's a graphic designer) so we were able to customize the chargers for our wedding party. Went well with the Oregon Walnut tap box we made.

This is my first post over in the DIY board...Long time creeper

I'm getting married in Sept. and I'm trying to put together what I want to get my groomsmen and ushers. I had thought I came up with a cleaver idea, did some searching and found some simliar posts on here but not quite the same.

I'm an engineering by trade, so I'm thinking I will laser cut all my groomsmen's initials into 11ga stainless, polish to mirror, then cast in clear resin.

I'm thinking I'll try and brew up a good wedding batch of beer, maybe buy custom caps??? and label them [don't usually do this] and hopefully have something unique for the guys.

What do you guys think?

The molds that Rivenin posted look great!

I picked up some cork board and used a circle cutter to cut out some coasters. They work great, but i want to make them better.
What i am thinking is that i will make a custom linoleum stamp to add a finishing touch.

I've made quite a few from solid surface countertop scraps. I cut them into rough rounds 4" to 5" on the bandsaw and glue them to a piece of wood to screw to my lathe faceplate, turn the edges nice and form a drip catcher ring on the top edge. The material comes in an awesome selection of patterns and colors and is pretty tough. You can carve or route any design you can imagine into it.

Finally got the supplies and made a few trial coasters. They came out alright. I'll post the finished ones once I get the steel

What are those glass items?

They are polyester resin

I thought I'd post back as I've completed all the coasters and beer for my groomsmen.

Let me know what you think

Good job on the coasters, handmade one of a kind items are appreciated the most.

Those initialized wedding coasters came out nice. What did you use for a mold?

I bought a mold from resin obsession.com
Retry cheap and worked well