When you’re spending a lot of time making tables for your vacation  house, you can’t help but think about providing lots and lots of coasters. You know…in case people are open to avoiding rings on those tables.

Shopping around for coasters, you quickly realize that even the stupidest coasters seem to cost a lot of money. Also, the most affordable ones always seem to be those cheap ones that stick to the bottom of your glass when your glass is sweating and then drop water into your lap.

I wanted heavy, natural stone coasters, but they were all so expensive! I started looking around on Pinterest to see if there was a way I could make my own natural stone coasters, preferably with a custom imprint that would suit our house. Well, of course, there are a million tutorials out there about transferring images to any number of different surfaces. However, all the ones that exist for coasters seem to date back to a time when color copies were created with toner. Since inkjet is the norm now, the mod podge and nail polish crafts I encountered no longer worked with pictures I could produce easily at home. After ruining several coasters, I gave up on transferring a copied photo and went searching for another method.

In the end, my dreams of custom coasters were made possible by this helpful video via Caroline and allfreechristmascrafts.com which demonstrates using permanent ink and a stamp, and then baking the tiles in the oven to set them. Switching gears, I went to my local craft store and easily found the StazOn ink for about $9 and the perfect compass stamp for about $15. With  coupons, I got discounts on both. In the end, my craft store trip cost me about $14.

Finding inexpensive 4×4 natural stone tiles took a trip to Home Depot. They came 10 in a pack for about $2. Not all of them are perfect in any given package, but the price was right. Lastly, we got little felt pads to apply to the bottom so that the tiles wouldn’t damage the furniture. Those were about $7 for 125 pads.

Once you’ve got your key materials, you are ready to create a huge stack of coasters in no time at all. It’s so easy! The video is super simple to follow and I completed their instructions to the letter. The result was just what I wanted! In short:

• First, select your tiles. You will find that they show lots of natural variations. I choose to use them all. I think the rough ones are charming, but you can find at least a few smooth ones in each batch.

• Then carefully stamp your image on each tile. Don’t try to press too hard or wiggle the stamp, or it will just blur. If this does happen, you can sand the image off with rough sandpaper and some elbow grease and try all over again.

• When you have enough tiles, preheat your oven to 300 degrees and lay the tiles out on a cookie sheet. Note: I do not cook food on this awful cookie sheet anymore! I wouldn’t advise you to put natural stone tiles on a cookie sheet you still use, as they will scratch the heck out of it! Bake your tiles at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. They will be hot when you remove them, so let them cool until they’re safe to touch. You may find they have some stone dust on top of them, so you can dust that off before the next step.

 

• When the tiles are cool, turn them over and apply your little felt pads.

That’s it, folks. You’re done.

You know what’s really great about these pretty, rustic coasters? They absorb moisture! When your drink sweats, it won’t spill over the sides and make your coaster stick to your glass. The ink will not run, either. I learned that when I had to sand off my mistakes!

This coaster craft has seemingly unlimited uses. Teacher gifts, anyone? I absolutely love my coasters and hope the folks who visit Sadler House will enjoy them for years to come.

Follow Sadler House’s board Vacation House Chic on Pinterest.