I saw another blog make some photo coasters before and I thought these would make a great table-decoration-turned-personalized-gift for a bridal brunch. In other words, it wasn't my original idea, but I thought I would share what worked for me.
First of all, several craft blogs discuss the merits of different types of color copies and printers. I was going to head out to my local Kinko's as the directions said, but there was also some talk in the blogosphere that Kinko's had recently changed their toner and it wasn't working as well. I decided to wing it with the laser jet printer to which I already had easy, free access. Luckily, it worked just fine!
The directions also called for nail polish remover with acetone, but not the kind that is 100% pure acetone. This worked just as described, but I never tested the 100% pure acetone type for comparison.
The acetate or acrylic sheet is for rubbing the paper with the bone folder. Obviously, to rub the paper itself would shred it, so the acetate/acrylic protects the paper as you rub and it is clear so you can see what you are doing. I happened to have a stack of 12 x 12 acrylic sheets for scrapbooking, so I used one of these. I have been told that transparency film for overhead projectors can work fine, as well.
Finally, the linked directions above also stated that the tile should be warmed up in the microwave before beginning. I tried with both hot and cold tiles and I actually found the opposite to be true. When I tried the warm tiles, the heat actually began to curl the paper and made it more difficult to keep it straight and centered on the tile. I had much more success with cold tiles.
Before I go through the step-by-step of what worked for me, also note the color of the nail polish remover. If you can get clear, it would be best, but blue or pink can be just fine. I ended up using yellow remover and it left a yellow tinge on the outer edges of the coasters. They all have the potential to leave a colored haze, but in my experience, the yellow was the worst.
Materials
- a set of tumbled travertine tiles from a home improvement store
(the fewer nicks and pores the better, but make sure it is matte finish, not glossy tile)
- a bottle of acetone nail polish remover
- at least two sets of the color copies/laser prints on regular copy paper
- a sheet of clear acrylic or acetate
- a bone folder or popsicle stick
- foam or larger bristle paintbrush
Procedure
1. Have the pictures cut out and ready to go. Arrange two tiles on a plastic mat, cutting board or some kind of surface to protect your table.
2. Center the images onto the tiles and begin dabbing on lots of remover with the brush. I found that the remover tends to eat up the glue that holds the foam onto the foam brush, so be prepared to go through several brushes if you chose foam. The remover evaporates almost immediately, so keep loading it on to keep it wet.
3. Layer on the sheet of acrylic or acetate while the tile is very wet. Begin rubbing and scratching the image thoroughly with the bone folder or stick. It will take several applications of remover and a lot of rubbing to get a satisfactory image.
4. Slowly peel up a corner of the image to see if the transfer is working. You will never get all of the ink off the page, but you can keep putting the corner down and reworking it until you like the image.
**Images with small faces or lots of detail often do not turn out as well. The crisper the picture, the bigger the faces and the smoother the tile, the better the results will be.
The images were actually even a little crisper than this picture seems. We displayed the coasters on each of the brunch tables on mini-easels and they were a huge hit! The bride loved them and all of the guests wanted to know how to make their own!
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