About two months before Christmas, I found what seemed like the best project to give to my brother for the holidays. He is quite the beer connoisseur, he even brews his own beer! I'm impressed. :) Anyways, I found the coolest beer cap coasters that I thought he would absolutely love. I asked my brother to start saving up his caps from beers and sure enough, he did. The day before Christmas (I know, I know, should have started earlier) I decided to make his gift. It was a royal disaster. I was totally bummed, as was he. I wish I would have known these coasters would be such a pain in my butt ahead of time. But, I decided to give it another shot yesterday and here are my results:
pin link (Thank you Lindsey Dixon whom this was originally pinned from)
link for directions (Props to Jessica Gaffney)
Props to my lovely mother for taking pictures during the project attempt!
Props to my lovely mother for taking pictures during the project attempt!
First you need molds for the coasters. I bought mine from a website called resin obsession. Apparently, these are worth the small price you pay if you are deciding to make these coasters. I bought two of the square base molds model #584. Tip: They shipped quickly and worked well, I suggest spending the extra cash. ($3.99 per mold)
I bought two molds so I can make multiple at a time. If you pace yourself and work ahead of time, it is not really necessary. In fact, this time I attempted the project, I only used one. I didn't want to take the chance to mess two up again and throw out wasted products. Tip: I suggest putting newspaper underneath your molds or your working area. Resin is quite tricky, sticky, and no fun on your counter tops! Another warning, this stuff smells! I suggest doing it in a low traffic area of your house, or just letting it dry in your basement or other area. Also, dispose of any trash, napkins, cups, etc in a trash can far away from yourself (I threw my remains in the garage).
You will want a mold release spray (pictured below). This makes the coasters easier to release when they are dry. The first step is to spray your molds with the spray and let them dry. (See picture above) It takes about 15-20 minutes to completely dry. The mold release spray was fairly inexpensive (I think about $4)
You will be using casting resin (make sure to get clear) and a casting catalyst. Together the two were kind of pricey. The catalyst was about $6 and the casting resin was about $20. I purchased all my supplies minus the molds from Michael's craft store. Tip: Michael's often gives out coupons and I suggest using one for the resin, since it is pricey. Another tip... this resin was IMPOSSIBLE to open. Okay, maybe not impossible, but very difficult. My mom and I had to use a screwdriver to try to pry it open. After that attempt failed we got out the pliers. You will definitely need some pliers to get this baby open.
You will want to mix the resin and catalyst with plastic silverware and cups you can easily get rid off. This stuff is sticky and smells (definitely don't want to drink OJ from a cup that this stuff has been in).
The directions on the resin container are VERY vague in my opinion. It describes how many drops of catalyst to put in the resin per ounce. I think this is where my first project didn't work out. I'm not sure how the heck they expect you to measures out ounces of resin. You will see when you pour it how tricky and sticky it is to work with. I estimated that I was using about 3-4 ounces of resin per coaster. The back suggested that for a single layer about 1/4" inch thick to use 8 drops of catalyst per ounce. That would be between 24-32 drops of catalyst for this coaster. (I did 32... don't ask me why) Start mixing immediately after dropping in the catalyst.
Next, pour just enough resin in the coaster to cover the surface area.
Then, start arranging your beer caps.
After arranging your tabs, pour the remaining resin in the mold. You want to fill the beer caps and attempt to make it covered evenly. Tip: Pouring the resin on top can tend to move the caps a little out of place. If you pour to the right or left of a cap it tends to shift the opposite way. For example, when pouring to the right of a cap, the cap tends to be pushed to the left a tad. If you are really picky about your spacing, you might want to be aware of this.
Below is the finished result about pouring the remains of the resin in. As you can see, my spacing is not exact, but I kind of like it. I think that is what makes DIY projects so great, they are always original. You can see that I have some air bubbles in mine. I honestly have no idea how you can avoid this. If you try out this project and have ideas, let me know!
The molds take "a few hours" to dry according to the directions from pinterest. I left mine dry overnight. Here is the finished result below! The first time I attempted this project, they never fully dried. They were sticky, gross, and falling apart.
I decided for every recipe/project I try, I will pinspect it in the following areas: pin, accuracy, ease, quality, time, and price. They will be rated from one start to five stars. One being the lowest and five being the highest. For pin, I will be looking at whether or not the actual pin link works and how easy it is to find the project or recipe within that link/website. For example, sometimes, pins take you to a blog, but not the specific blog post with the project directions. The accuracy will be determined by whether or not I feel the directions for the project/recipe were described in enough detail. The ease of completing the project. The quality of the finished project. How long the project took to complete and lastly, how expensive the project was and whether or not it is worth your buck!
Pin: *****
The pin link took you directly to the website needed to complete the project. It was straightforward and easy to find with just a click of the mouse.
Accuracy: ***
I thought the directions could have been better explained. The author really didn't describe how much resin you use per coaster, which was confusing. You have to have just the right amount of catalyst for resin. She didn't really give any tips for troubleshooting unless you read through all the comments on her blog.
Ease: **
This project is pretty difficult. It is hard to determine the right amount of catalyst to harden the coaster. I have no idea how anyone could do this without getting air bubbles in the resin. It was also difficult to keep the beer tabs placed exactly how you wanted. The resin is difficult to work with and messy.
Quality: ****
The coasters look awesome, but even when dry they smell kinda funky (I hear that goes away) and are a tad sticky. My brother loves the look, but I guess we will find out how reliable and efficient they are when put to use.
Time: *****
This project doesn't take much time (if you exclude drying time). It maybe took me ten minutes to put the coaster together and have it ready to dry.
Price: ****
This project is a little pricey, but you can make a lot of coasters with the materials you get. If you are planning on only making a couple it might not be worth your buck.
Thanks! Hope you all enjoyed my first "real" post! Feel free to comment, leave me tips or suggestions to improve, or let me know what you would like to see next!
Megan
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