Greetings creative, crafty ones! Jenn here, with a practical and pretty addition to your home or a great gift for a travelling friend.
I made a set of these map-covered tile coaster for my brother for Christmas and I liked them so much that I wanted a set for my house, too. While you can use any maps you want, what makes these really special is to focus on places you've traveled to or lived. And if you need printable maps, SitesAtlas.com is where I got most of the state maps I used and printed them to the size I needed.
To make a set for yourself, you'll need:
- Unglazed tiles
- Printed or upcycled maps, cut slightly larger than your tiles
- Helmar Decoupage & Craft Paste
- Foam brush
- Brayer
- Sandpaper
- Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Spray
- Self-adhesive cork sheet
- Scissors
Brush a layer of Helmar Decoupage & Craft Paste onto the top of your tile with a foam brush.
Place your map onto the tile and smooth it out with a brayer. A squeegee or even your hand will work for this, but I find that the brayer applies just the right amount of balanced pressure to roll out any air bubbles or wrinkles.
Apply a coat of Helmar Decoupage & Craft Paste to the top of the map, working the map into any dips and crevasses in the tile's surface. (Fingers are your best tool here, go ahead and get a little messy.) While the paper is still damp with glue, tear the excess paper from the edges, smoothing the torn edges into place on the tile edges. Allow to dry completely.
Sand the edges of the coasters to remove any excess paper and blend the map images into the tile edges. You can also distress the images themselves, like I did with the very prominent blue sections of the Florida tile, to give them a pre-weathered look. Wipe off any dust from sanding and give each coaster a couple coats of Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Spray.
Finish them off by adding cork feet to protect your tables. You can find cut-to-size cork sheets that will fit your tiles perfectly or cut a larger sheet into 1" squares to apply to the corners, like I've done here.
Wishing you creative days!
