Newspaper Coasters

Hello everyone

Today's post is about recycling or as we all say Upcycling Newspaper to make Coasters. We all use coasters to prevent our surfaces from any spills of tea, coffee etc. So since the spring is in the air, I decided to show you how to make a pretty floral coaster using newspapers and printed 2 ply tissue papers.

Materials:

1. Newspapers
2. Mod Podge
3. Foam brushes
4. Glue (Fevicol)
5. Scissors or cutters
6. 2 ply printed tissue paper ( A1 Craft Supply)
7. Cardboard or Mountboard
8. Clear Varnish

Procedure:

1. Let us start by making newspaper roll tubes. In order to make 2 coasters we will need atleast 30-40 tubes,depending upon the length of the tubes, the thinckness of the tubes and the size of the coasters.
2. To make tubes, u need to cut long strips of newspaper to about 8 cm wide. Make sure you get clean cut paper strips. I used a thin knitting needle to roll newspaper. Place the stick or needle at one corner of newspaper strip at an angle, tuck under the corner edge and then roll with your fingers. When you reach the end after rolling, dab a bit of glue ( fevicol ) to hold the end in place.
3. There are various methods of rolling the paper tubes and after making a couple of paper tubes, you will figure out which one works best for you.
4. Repeat this step to get more such slender tubes.
5. You will notice once you have made a few tubes that one end is slightly narrower than the other. Don't worry about this as it is desired. You can connect 2 tubes by inserting the narrower end into the broader end of another tube.
6. Once you roll all your tubes, start coiling them as tightly as possible. Join two tubes using Step 5 and continue coiling. You can use adhesive to secure your coils.
7. After you have coiled tubes and attained the desired coaster size, glue the end of the last tube. Repeat coiling to obtain one more similar coaster. Make as many as you like.
8. Now smear any white adhesive on both sides of all the coasters you make. I smeared fevicol on one side and after it dried added fevicol on the second side. Then dried it completely. This process hardens your coasters.
9. Now glue a piece of cardboard on one side of the coaster of the same size and shape. I also added a strip of mountboard around the coaster for even looking surface. You can also use any cardstock scraps you have with you.
10. Time for decoupaging. I used a 2 ply tissue paper with nice floral prints and  paper Mod Podge gloss to decoupage the coasters. You can use any variant in tissue paper as well as Mod Podge.
11. Apply 3 to 4 coats of Mod Podge allowing drying time between applications. I used outdoor Mod Podge so that our coaster would remain safe even if it gets moist. Coat Mod Podge on both the sides of the coaster.
12. You can stop here or add a coat or 2 of  clear varnish if you want. If you have applied varnish to the coasters do not forget about the curing time before you start using them.

There is no end to the size options ( big, small, medium), shape options( square, triangle, circle, hexagon, oval etc) as well as decoration options( tissue papers, pattern papers, washi tapes etc) when it comes to coasters. 

I hope you guys liked this upcycling technique and will try to make one soon.