Brighten Up Your Next Cocktail Party

December 1, 2008

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Brighten Up Your Next Cocktail Party

by Elinor Stecker-Orel
Photo Coasters

Article rating: 8.50

Six or eight coasters personalized with photos make a nice hostess gift if you can bear to part with them. You could put identical pictures on each coaster, or they could all be different but related by a common theme.

There are several ways you can make the coasters, using either conventional film prints or digitized images. I made the square ones shown in the illustration by printing images from the computer onto special transfer material. I made the round one by gluing a photo onto a thin sheet of cork.

Photo Coaster Directions:

Directions for Transferring digital images These coasters are made of a material similar to that used for mousepads. The special iron-on transfer material gives them a water-resistant finish. Mine came in a kit from Computer Crafts and had ten coaster blanks and several sheets of transfer material.

Here's what to do - Part 1

1. Open the pictures in an image-editing program. Size them so they are slightly larger than the coaster blanks.

2. Gang the images to print four on a page. If your image-editing program doesn't provide for printing multiples, open a new "canvas" sized to 8.5 x 11, giving it the same resolution as the pictures, and copy and paste the images onto it.

3. Set your ink-jet printer for glossy photo paper; print.

4. Let the ink dry. Cut the images apart, handling them carefully since ink can rub off.

5. Follow the manufacturer's directions to use an iron to transfer the images onto each coaster. Press firmly as you keep the hot iron moving constantly, for about 20 seconds for each coaster. Let cool, peel off the transfer paper, and trim any excess.

You'll need:

 Natural sheet cork, available in craft stores

 PVA or other white glue

 Acrylic gloss medium or clear Con-Tack laminate

 Circle template or compass

 Scissors

Here's what to do - Part 2

1. For each coaster, draw two circles on the cork, each about three-and-one-half-inches in diameter. Cut them out.

2. Draw circles of the same size on your photos and cut them out.

3. Glue two cork circles together. (The sheet cork is only one-eighth inch thick, so this gives the coaster more body). If the cork is curled, glue the sheets together with the curl facing in opposite directions.

4. Glue a photo onto the top of each coaster. Let dry.

5. When the glue is dry, seal and waterproof the coaster by coating the photo with acrylic gloss medium. Let it dry and apply another coat. Alternatively, you can use clear Con-Tact paper as a protective laminate.

6. Use a scissors or craft knife to even out the edges.

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