Jason (from Onigiri Everyday) and I got together last week for collabo DIY project #2 (see project #1 here)– wooden coasters with IG photos transferred onto the wood. It’s a project that’s more easy than quick, but suitable for any crafting beginner with a few hours to spare (original tutorial here). We each made a set of six.

Materials:

• six 4.5″ wood squares (we bought poplar hobby board from Home Depot and cut to size using a table saw)
• six square Instagram photos (or any photos, really), mirrored (flipped) and laser printed on regular white copy paper (Jason used Photoshop for this– tutorial here if you don’t know how)
• matte mod podge
• sponge brush
• bowl of water
• rag
• credit card

Print 6 mirrored Instagram photos (Jason worked his Photoshop magic and then laser printed 2 per sheet) and cut them out using a paper cutter (or scissors/exacto knife).

Cut hobby board to 4.5″ squares (and sand, of course) or if you’re lucky enough to find wooden squares at your local craft store in the right size, then you can skip this step.

Spread a coat of mod modge onto the front side of your picture using a sponge brush. Don’t drench the paper, but make sure all parts of the paper are evenly coated.

Glue the mod podged paper down onto a wood square, being as precise as possible and avoiding dragging the paper across the wood. Use a credit card to smooth out and remove any bubbles under the paper.

WAIT ONE HOUR to let your coasters dry.

After an hour, take a wet rag and place on top of the paper until the water soaks into the image.

Use your fingertips (NOT YOUR NAILS) to rub off the paper. The first layer should come off really easily. After the first layer, there will be a second fuzzy layer of paper that is much harder to remove. Be patient, wetting the paper periodically and gently rubbing away. You may accidentally rub off some of the actual photo on the wood, which will be okay in the end because it will give your coaster a rustic look…….. is what I kept telling myself. -_-

All the paper rubbed off! The places where the wood shows through are the places I accidentally rubbed away the photo. After you’re done with this, let your coaster dry and then paint another coat of mod podge on to seal the image, and let it dry. I actually didn’t take any photos after this step (I was too impatient), but you get the idea.

All of my coasters, pre-final coat of mod-podge.

My coasters intermixed with Jason’s… we were saying it would be really cool to make a bunch of these and then put them in a frame! Maybe someday…

Collabo success. Happy mod podging!