Create your own custom drink coasters - DIY

[fnkngrv]

Ok, so this isn't for a Yaris itself, but hey, it is a DIY! The bulk of the pictures are of the ones that I made for my ex-wife because she loves playing and watching poker (WSOP)

End Product:



Garm asked me to do a DIY on the coasters so here we go:

Items Needed:
1) Photo Coaster Set (I Used the Family Dollar Interior by Design Item 093FD)
2) Ruler and pencil
3) Utility Knife or Exacto knife
4) Scotch tape
5) Clear Contact Paper or clear packaging tape
6) Cutting board
7) Goo Gone, WD40, or some other adhesive removal if necessary
8) Scissors
9) Image Editing software with a printer
10) Small window tint squeegee optional.

Cost:
Depending could easily be less than 10 bucks

Time:
30 minutes if you push through it

First step is to find the image you want. If you are doing MI then of course you can get it by doing a screen capture of the banner on the MI front page.
I used Roxio Photosuite 2010 Pro. I imported the screen capture and then cropped it down to a size that had a small border of the black color around the words. I do it this way because you can always bucket fill your colors around your image.



After the import I opened a new canvas that is 4” by 4” with which ever background color I wanted to use. In the case of the first I just did a black background. Once the new canvas is opened I would copy/paste the original image into the new canvas. I would make sure that my object size fits well within the size of the viewable area on your coaster. With the set from Family Dollar your viewable area is roughly 2 ¾” by 2 1/8”.

Once you have your image set somewhere around the middle of your 4x4 canvas you may need to flatten the image so that you can bucket fill the color. Once flattened and bucket filled you may have edge lines from the imported image. I cloned the background image to effectively erase the edge lines.

Now that your image is prepped you can print off a test page. For my test page for test fitment I always print in draft mode to conserve ink however the final product was printed at photo quality. It may be worth mentioning at this point that I actually used regular paper, not glossy photo paper as the matte finish on the frosted glass of the coasters I used matched much better. Your mileage may vary.

Once you have your test page set it behind the coaster and line it up to see whether or not you are satisfied with the results. If you can then you can move on to printing up the quantity of your final prints depending on how many coasters you are doing.



At this point you need to measure the viewable area again of your coasters to make sure you calculate your cut lines correctly. I set my cut lines to allow for approximately 1/4” to extend “behind” the edge of the viewable area. I placed my paper on the cutting board. In my case I used a standard notebook. I set my ruler along the border of the filled part of the print and of course the middle of the 4x4 is at the 2” mark. I measured out from the center 1 ½” on each side for the width in my case and then 1 1/8” for the height. I made tick marks and then afterward I lined up my ruler and cut the cuts per the tick marks.





Now that my image has been cut out I went to the task of cleaning up the coasters. They came with these cheesy “sleeves” for photos attached to them with a thin foam tape. I removed the sleeves and then worked at removing the remaining foam residue. I first used my fingernail to peel away the excess tape. I then used a WD40 pen to remove the remaining adhesive. I used the WD40 pen as it did not damage the frosting on the glass. I can tell you that using your fingers or thumbs to “roll” as much of the adhesive off works great however it could give you a blister or a raw spot so be warned.





Now that the adhesive has been removed it would be wise to clean the viewable part of your coaster glass. At least do this on the side that the paper will be mounting to so that you have a nice clean image through the glass.

Next step is to get yourself a small piece of scotch tape ready. Pick up your coaster and place the image behind the glass so that you can get the image centered. Now place the scotch tape along the top of your paper so that it secures the paper in place.



Flip the Coaster over and make sure that you are still centered as best as posible.



Flip the coaster with paper attached face down. Now you can do one of two things. If you have clear contact paper measure and cut it so that you have enough of an edge around the paper to properly secure it to the coaster. If you did what I did since I didn’t have any contact paper available then you can eyeball your packaging tape as you roll it off the roll and then comes the tricky part; this is regardless of which you use. You will need to attach the securing piece in the center and then slowly secure it down moving out toward the sides. This method will ensure that you have the least issue with possibly bubbling, bunching, or air pockets. If you are using the packaging tape then you would most likely need two pieces per coaster; One high and one low.

After you have the securing pieces in place smooth them out to get rid of the bubbles. Once you are satisfied that you have the paper as secured and flat as possible you may want to use a fingernail and trace it along the four edges of the paper so that it creates as tight a seal as possible to prevent the ink on the paper from aging/yellowing.



Flip your coaster over and viola! You have your finished product. Now just do the same steps for the remaining coasters.