Friday, February 1, 2013

Hand Stamped Tile Coasters Make a Great Gift.

What do you do with your stamped projects?  Do you send cards? Or do you make stamped gifts?  Here is one gift I gave this past holiday season.  Hand Stamped Tile Flower Coasters.

The challenge when stamping on tile is to make the ink stick to the tile.  DON"T use a super smooth tile, like the glazed ones used to line a bathtub. I've tried multiple types of inks and paint along with fixatives and adhesives.  Even the light pressure just from handling them is enough to rub the image right off of the glazed surface.

What HAS WORKED is a tumbled stone type tile. I've found them at home building stores (like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards) in packages of about 8-9 for about $5.  The ones you see here I got at our local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store for under a $ each. These did have a bit of a finish to them but they are holding the ink well.

Again, the challenge is getting the ink to stick to the tile.  The more porous the tile the better the ink will adhere. The coasters here were done similar to coasters in an earlier post. Many directions call for heat setting the ink.  In part I believe that is to make sure the ink is really dry (no smudging due to wetness). Its also possible that the heat may vaporize some of the ink and drive the vapors into the structure of the tile. Don't quote me on that, that's just me, the former science teacher, talking. If you check various websites you'll find all sorts of times and oven settings.  I just used my heat gun - and it worked fine.

re INKS: Staz-ON ink is a permanent ink and works just fine as long as it is thoroughly dried.  You'll see several coasters done using Staz-ON ink in my previous post. The ones you see here were heat embossed.
The large image used here is from a set called Elements of Style.  I chose this image for several reasons:
  1. It was large enough to fill the tile
  2. The image would emboss well
  3. It could be easily colored 
Here's how I made these:
  • Stamped the image in Black Craft Ink (cuz its gooey!)
  • sprinkled on Clear Embossing Powder (I never use the black powder  any more cuz I don't like the little stray black speckles where they don't belong)
  • heat emboss
  • color with Stampin'UP! MARKERS
  • heat set (to dry - thoroughly!)
  • spray LIGHTLY with clear enamel
  • spray again as needed
hand stamped tile coaster made with Stampin'UP!'s stamp set: Elements of Style
hand stamped tile coaster made with Stampin'UP!'s stamp set: Elements of Style
hand stamped tile coaster made with Stampin'UP!'s stamp set: Elements of Style

hand stamped tile coaster made with Stampin'UP!'s stamp set: Elements of Style
I used Stampin'UP! markers because thats what I have. They worked great when heated to dryness and sprayed with a clear finish. I love the uneven look to the coloring.  It adds to the realistic look of this style image.

TIP #1:  It takes TIME to heat set the embossing powder because it takes time for the tile to get warm enough to melt the powder.  Be patient.

TIP #2:  Spray LIGHTLY with the enamel.  The force of the wet spray is strong enough to smear the ink even when heat set. You can always add a 2nd or 3rd coat of the spray.

VARIATION:  Cover with Versamark and sprinkle with Iridescent Ice and heat set.  Its Stunning!

Share Your Experience: Please leave comments below to share your experience with making coasters.  We'd all love to know what worked for you.


Happy Stamping
--Katie



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