We had never even considered the need for coasters before, but after picking up a cool midcentury desk at an estate sale not too long ago – which has the type of veneer top known for bubbling – we decided to do the grown up thing and use coasters. But of course we made some of the geek variety, inspired by classic polaroid photos.
Anyone else remember making tile coasters in grade school art class, using sharpies? This was initially inspired by those, but then a quick google search of “Polaroid coasters” opened up a whole world of awesome DIY coasters. We decided to make ours using cell phone photos of some of our favorite toys action figures, to bring a touch of geekery to the project. Geek coasters!
We started with $0.16 tiles from Lowe’s (yes, they’re THAT cheap. Just standard square ceramic tiles). We went with the “bone” color instead of white, so that they looked a little more aged. Then we just took photos of toys. Lots and lots of photos, of lots and lots of toys – then narrowed that down to about 10. We also threw an Instagram photo in the mix, of the worm from Labyrinth (‘ello!).
In our phone’s basic photo editor, we messed around with the saturation/contrast/etc, but you could just as easily do it in Instagram or any other photo editing program that implements filters. Then we printed out the photos, and cut them by hand into 3.25″ x 3.75″ squares, using a ruler to measure. We just used our basic cheapie home printer and regular paper to print the pictures – it was kind of low on ink which caused some faint lines on the photos, but we don’t even mind since we were going for an “imperfect” Polaroid style look anyway. 😉
Mod Podge time. You could use glue and clear spray sealer instead – whatever you have on hand. We used the matte Mod Podge formula, but in retrospect, the waterproof kind would work better – so use that. Use it as directed (or better yet, first read the FAQ at Mod Podge Rocks blog), SLOWLY pushing out air bubbles as you go. Seal the geek coasters with a couple more coats of Mod Podge – and if you’d like, finish them off with little felt stickers on the bottom, so they don’t scratch your table. If you want your coasters extra durable, wait a couple of days after Mod Podge’ing, then seal with an acrylic sealer spray.
That’s it! Super easy, and now we’re like real grown-ups. 😉 If you’re looking for more geeky coasters, check out this fantastic Doctor Who set from Your Friend Elle and these comic book coasters from Mod Podge Rocks. (if you’ve made your own geek coasters, let us know and we’ll add you to the list!)
What do you think? Are coasters even a thing people use anymore?
B says
January 21, 2015 at 7:26 amWhat a fun and simple idea! I love it!
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 10:13 amThank you so much!!
cwaftycreations says
January 21, 2015 at 7:34 amI love these! I especially like that you guys took the photos yourselves, it makes it so much more personal when they’re your own action figures! 🙂 Definitely a must make
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 10:13 amThank you! The hardest part was deciding which action figures were “coaster worthy”. 😉
Jaime Fugate says
January 21, 2015 at 7:35 amDid you print it with regular printer paper or something else? And ink jet or laser printer? Thanks! Super cool, going to make these for my new house.
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 10:12 amJust regular paper, from our cheap inkjet home printer (I’ll edit the post to say so). 🙂
Amanda says
January 21, 2015 at 10:54 amDo you have a problem with the cups sticking to the coasters? I used Mod Podge to make coasters and my glasses always stick, I’ve had them for over a year.
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 11:36 amHey there! So far we haven’t noticed any sticking problems (we’ve only had ours in regular use about a week). Which formula did you use? Maybe we’ll add an extra clear coat sealer, just to be sure they don’t stick.
Joie Fatale says
January 21, 2015 at 11:22 amI like the idea of giving them a polaroid theme
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 8:48 pmThank you! (PS: Your Daria workout cosplay is fantastic!)
Lisa says
January 21, 2015 at 6:17 pmThey look really awesome! I *love* surfing Batman ^____^
ournerdhome says
January 21, 2015 at 8:40 pmThanks, Lisa! I just saw that there’s a surfing Joker as well, which we’ll have to get next! 🙂
Ari Carr says
January 22, 2015 at 7:59 amYes! I use coasters all the time. For some reason, I’ve got a lot of nerdy mugs, and one side of the packaging makes for perfect coasters. These look way better so I might make them sometime 😀
ournerdhome says
January 22, 2015 at 11:26 amNever even thought about using the mug packaging as a coaster! That’s a great idea.
Erin Radler says
January 22, 2015 at 7:01 pmOMG I love all of these! What a fantastic idea! And easy to implement the same idea to other things too. Thanks for the amazing tutorial. I love you guys.
ournerdhome says
January 22, 2015 at 10:15 pmThanks so much, Erin!! 🙂
Danielle Morgan says
January 24, 2015 at 4:53 pmI LOVE this! Such a great idea! It would be fun to make a wall collage with these, too!
Jessica says
January 27, 2015 at 4:35 pmI love this! you share the best DIYs!! 🙂
Jessica
the.pyreflies.org
thedomesticgeek says
February 7, 2015 at 8:57 amNo, no, no! You can’t have an image of a weeping angel in your house. You probably won’t even see this comment because you’re stuck in 1976 or something. 😉
This is so cool, despite the fact that the weeping angel is so going to get you, pinning this!
Amanda Brown says
May 8, 2015 at 7:28 amThanks for the post it worked out great. It was a great mother’s day gift. Instead of action figure I used a bunch of pictures of all my siblings when we were real little!!!
JoseyBlooBunny says
May 18, 2015 at 1:55 amHi I really wana make some nerdy as hell coasters for my house, but I’m unsure because everywhere I google about people are complaining about coasters sticking to cups, and it’s worrying me. Have your coasters come out bad? My biggest worry is painting something awesome on them then a cold cup of iced coffee ruining it! D: please help! \(T-T)/
ournerdhome says
May 18, 2015 at 11:11 amHey there! We haven’t had any major problems, but we live in a dry/hot climate, so ours might have cured differently. We did see some good tips re: stickiness here: https://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/discussions/discuss/10546237/. Seems like people have good luck using the waterproof mod podge (dishwasher safe variety), letting it cure for at least a couple days, then sealing with an acrylic sealer spray. 🙂 We might do a second set of coasters and try it that way and with resin, to compare the methods!