People traditionally use coasters as the placements for hot dishes and cold drinks to protect the table from getting exposed to the extreme conditions. Children sometime use them as flying saucers and you may sometimes find them flying in your house as UFO's [unidentified flying object]. Besides that, you can also use them as an enhancement to the table decor. Most coasters which are now available in the market come with very good designs. You can choose them by comparing your table's color and design. People use them also as the last disc at the bottom of a CD stack so that good CDs don't get scratched by being at the bottom. Buying coasters is easy and not too expensive; however making them on your own is not only cheap but also creatively stimulating. Explore the article to know a few simple methods to make coasters.
Making Your Own Coasters
Floppy Disk Coaster
Requirements
- Scissors
- Lamination
- One or more floppy disks
Procedure
- Computer programmers usually are familiar with the utilization of the floppy disk to hold their caffeinated beverages as they work late night.
- There is a chance for floppy disc coaster to rapidly deteriorate into a mere shadow of its original self because of the over usage.
- To protect these coasters, a laminate can be applied. A base of ‘felt can also be used to prevent the floppy disc coaster’ from ‘desk slippage.’
Themed Wooden Disc Coaster
Requirements
- Clear Varnish
- Glue
- 2 Wooden discs or old, unwanted coasters
- Interesting paper items to be glued to the coaster (train tickets, newspaper clippings etc)
Procedure
- This is one of those designs, which allow a great amount of personal preference.
- All you need to do is to take the old coasters and paste the paper items with glue.
- Material such as train tickets, newspaper clippings, photographs, and stamps can be attached to the discs to create the desired frame.
- Once the glue is dried, apply a coat of clear varnish to keep coaster safe from heat and liquids.
- Heat Source
- Electrical drill with circular cutting attachment
- One vinyl record
Procedure
- Cut the black part of the vinyl record and use the label as a coaster.
- There are two ways of cutting the vinyl records. First, one can gently heat the record. You can do it either in an oven or in a controlled flame. If you heat it up in oven, make sure that the oven is on 100 degree Celsius. It will melt the vinyl in a smooth way.
- Melting of the vinyl will make it soft and it will be easier for you to cut it out. After you are finished with this, you need to cut round the label, which is placed in the centre of the record. You can use an electric drill with a circular cutting attachment for that purpose.
- The label will be the perfect size for most hot drinks. You should remove any sharp edges to make sure the safety of the user and you can use sand paper for smoothening the edges.
- If you wish, you can also add a ‘felt base’ to ensure more protection.