These wooden coasters are so great for many reasons. They’re cheap and easy to make, customizable, and they are great presents during the holidays! I came up with this coaster idea when I was strolling through Michael’s (as usual) and saw these wooden disks. The wood reminded me of my elementary school legacy project where we did a photo transfer collage of our faces onto a slab of wood. It turned out awful.
I decided to give it another try a couple times since then (8 years later) and have found what methods have worked best for me. The process basically goes like this: print off a mirrored black and white image of your choosing, glue it to wood and rub off the paper to reveal the ink left behind on the wood.
This project works best with a laser printer over an inkjet but inkjet can work as well. I recommended doing black and white prints because they show up so much nicer and I think the black compliments the wooden colours.
We have a lot of big, old trees in our backyard that attract birds and different sorts of wildlife so I used that for inspiration when choosing the photos for this project! I also made some festive coasters to bring a bit more holiday spirit into the house and to change things up a bit. Just remember to mirror your image before you print it out because your image will be flipped once it’s transferred onto the wood.
For this project you can use either Modge Podge photo transfer or gel medium. Gel medium is often used as a paint thickener/texturizer for acrylic paint and has so many other uses beyond just photo transferring so I prefer to buy gel medium for its multiple purposes. Although you may not have heard of it before, it’s easy to come by in most craft stores in the paint section.
I also like to seal my coasters with another layer of gel medium or a different sealant (I had polyurethane wood sealer on hand but any sealant works). You need felt on the bottom of your coasters to prevent scratching your tables. For the felt, I recommend sticking to a neutral colour because bright colours will bleed dye if they accidentally get wet and could end up staining your countertops or wooden furniture. If you have easily stained surfaces in your home, I would recommend going with a white felt.
One last thing: it is very important to leave the image to dry on the wood overnight. Don’t get impatient! This ensures that the ink from the image has enough time to transfer onto the wood. You can use this process for anything from wooden prints to hang on the wall and even for fabric!
And that’s everything to it! Here’s the process:
Materials
- Flat, wooden disks
- Felt
- Gel medium or modge podge photo transfer
- Printed images, cropped to size and mirrored
- Scissors
- Paint brush
- Pencil
- Rag or paper towel
- Glue
- Sealant (optional)
Instructions
- Print out, resize and mirror your images to fit your wooden disks (I do this on Microsoft Word or Pages).
- Place your disk on top of the printed images, trace them out and cut them to size.
- Paint a thick but even layer of gel medium or photo transfer onto the disk and place your image face down onto the wood. Smooth out any bubbles with the edge of a pencil or ruler.
- Leave overnight to dry.
- Once dry, wet a rag or a paper towel and dampen the paper on your disks. Gently rub the wet paper off of the wood with your fingers to reveal the ink left behind. Once all the paper is off, set the wet wood aside to dry.
- Seal the image onto the wood with a layer of gel medium or a sealant of your choice and set aside to dry.
- Trace and cut out your felt. I like to cut mine a bit smaller than the wooden disks. Glue it to the back of the wood.
- And that’s it! Enjoy your new coasters 🙂
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