Tutorial Tuesday: "Wooden" Coasters
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A few years ago I had my husband cut a few biscuits from some smaller logs he was felling so that I could use them for coasters. I really love these coasters, but it is difficult to make them perfectly level. They always seem to wobble on the table. Finally, I had had enough, and I decided to make my own version from scraps of felt. Now you can do it too.
Here is what you will need;
- 1 8 1/2 * 11 inch sheet of medium beige felt (this is enough for a bit more than 1 coaster), or the equivalent in scraps.
- 1 8 1/2 * 11 inch sheet of brown felt (this is enough to make several coasters), or scraps.
- Glue - You will need a LOT, so I recommend the cheapest Tacky Glue you can find, but anything that will stick to felt and is fairly water proof once dry is fine.
- A rotary cutter or scissors.
- A ruler.
Step 1:
Cut your felt into 1/2" wide pieces. They can be of variable length, but I would recommend that your light beige pieces be at least 5" long or longer. Your brown pieces should be 5" long or shorter.
Step 2:
Begin Gluing (this gets messy, so make sure your work area is protected). Starting with your shortest light beige piece, apply a bead of glue along the length of the piece. Then tightly wrap the piece onto itself along the work surface.
Step 3:
Make the core of your coaster by wrapping additional glued pieces to your starter wrap. Overlap the ends of the old piece and new piece to avoid unsightly gaps in the finished product. Continue in this fashion until you have a small sturdy core that can stand on it's own.
Step 4:
With the core standing up, continue wrapping consecutively longer glued pieces around the core until the middle of the coaster is the desired size. I made mine about 3 inches in diameter.
Step 5:
Now it's time to add the bark. Starting with the longest pieces of brown felt, glue and wrap about 2 layers of brown felt.
Step 6:
Finish the bark with consecutively shorter pieces of brown felt. However, you will be covering the seams instead of continuing to wrap after the last one.
