I've been playing around with making tile coasters - and boy have I learned a lot! Its been fun, I've made lots of mistakes but they've all been learning experiences.
The tiles are relatively inexpensive at a building supply store. You want the tumbled stone ones, not anything with a too smooth ceramic surface. The reason isn't how it looks, the problem is getting ink to stick to the surface.
Actually, I went to our local Habitat for Humanity Resale shop and got a whole pile of them for 10 cents a piece. I think they're wise to us crafters though, because the next time I came in they were 79 cents a piece. Ah well.
The selection at the Habitat store included some yellowish ones that had a little finish on it. They turned out OK. Those are the ones with the lodge and the large tree in the photo.
Most of the tiles were rough tumbled stone. I played around with lots of different stamp sets. I wanted something that was wintery or that would look good in a cabin in northern Wisconsin.
The ones you see here use images from 3 different sets:
*Lovely As a Tree, *Christmas Lodge, and *Snowflake Soiree
I'm not sure how well it shows up in these photos but there is some color on these tiles. The trees were sponged with green and I used a marker to color the base of the big tree and the lodge. I also used a blender pen in White Craft ink to make snow on the lodge roof.
I did experiment with other colors too. One with leaves and fall colors and another with snowflakes sponged in blues and purples.
The issue is the inks! StazON is great. It just needs time to thoroughly dry or be heat set. I heat set some in the oven and some with my heat tool. Seemed to work either way.
Stampin'UP! inks are water soluble. So they must be heat set onto the stone AND need a protective waterproof finish of some kind. I was using a spray Clear Enamel.
So then I thought, if the tile can handle heat setting why not emboss. The top tile in this photo was embossed in black. It was stunning.
Then I tried black embossing with some Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Even more stunning!
These turned out nice enough that my husband wants to use them for Christmas gifts this year. What about your giving list? What stamp sets do you have that would work in a 4x4 size?
Anyway, I did a tile coaster class this weekend and the same event will repeat on Thursday at the Oregon Senior Center. (that's Oregon, Wisconsin for those of you who just randomly found this blog. Its just south of Madison in Dane county). Click HERE if you want to register for that class.
I actually do lots of events locally and would love to have you attend any of them. I also do private classes in the location of your choice for you and your friends. Just call and we'll plan an agenda that will impress your friends. Stamping is your passion, right? Thats why you're here reading this blog. So why not invite your friends to share your hobby. I can help plan something thats both simple and impressive to get your friends started on something that you can all share together. Call 608-220-3450 and we'll start planning your event.
I hope to talk with you soon
Happy Stamping
--Katie
3 comments:
a few yearsago i did this for some people at a nursing home but my teacher helped me. i tried it tonight because soon i have to give a demo speech n this is what im doing it over. a video on youtube said stick it in the oven at 325 for 8 minutes but i tried that n nothing happened. what temp n for how long are you suppose to put them in for?
Autumn
You've chosen a great project for your speech. I think your listeners will be wow'ed by what you show them.
Do you want to show them the whole process from start to finish
or do you want to be like the "cooks" on TV and say "through the magic of television, here is a finished project"?
Check my Feb 1st blog post - its for YOU!
If you have access to a heat gun you really don't even need the oven.
The problem is getting whatever kind of ink you are using to not smear on what ever kind of tile you are using.
Don't use a super smooth tile, no ink will stick to that.
Tumbled stone tiles (about $5 for 8-9 of them at a Home Building Supply Store: Lowes, Home Depot, Menards . . .)
Staz-ON ink is a good permanent ink, it is not supposed to wash off.
And really, once it is thoroughly dry it should be fine without any heating.
I used black craft ink and sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and used the heat gun to set the powder.
It takes a little while - maybe 5-6 minutes (I didn't actually time it) but it takes a while for the tile itself to warm up to the temperature where the embossing powder will melt.
Once the tile is warm enough the heat setting part goes quickly.
To add color I sponged on some regular stamping ink and heat set it (just to get it dry)
and then LIGHTLY sprayed on some acrylic finish.
Go lightly, because you can always add a second coat
but if you spray too much at once its too wet and the force of the spray combined with the wet will make the colors run.
Hey, good luck with your speech.
Let me know how it goes
And if you are using Stampin'UP! products then send me a picture of your project and I'll post it on my website!
;-)
--Katie
Actually I didn't "sponge" on the color, I used markers.
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