Welcome to the gazillionth installment of Make A Thing, where we make handmade gifts for people. Or ourselves. Or our cats. Mostly our cats.
Header by Rory Midhani
My sister is the queen of word games. Maybe I have advanced degrees in the English language, but the situation has gotten to the point where I can’t even play any word game of any form with her anymore because she beats me every. single. time. and I’m a sore loser. I take things very personally. That, and she gloats. Ugh.
To celebrate her supreme authority of word games and show her that I really love her even though I always roll my eyes when she points out a triple word score, I made her some Scrabble coasters! That way, she can obsessively find Boggle patterns in the letters and shout out the words to me while we’re having our morning coffee time (this isn’t even a joke, it’s something that already started to happen before I even glued the letters down).
Scrabble Tile Coasters
Supplies Needed:
+ Scrabble tiles (or you can buy fake ones at the craft store, like I did)
+ 4″x4″ ceramic tiles that cost $0.16 each at Home Depot
+ Super glue
+ Clear acrylic spray paint
+ Felt
+ Optional: Hot glue, in case you don’t trust yourself to super glue felt
Level of Difficulty: Easier than getting me to finish a board game with you when I’m losing. Especially if it’s Sorry. That game is some bullshit.
1. Start figuring out really good arrangements of tiles so you can win the game immediately. I’m kidding. I fit about 5×5 ceramic tiles on my coasters. I found these in the tiny wooden shape aisle of Michaels and one package of ~60 made two coasters, so buy accordingly.
2. Clean your ceramic tiles with a household cleaner or at least wipe them off with a damp cloth.
3. Once you’ve figured out a good arrangement, start super gluing. Use less super glue than you think you need or you’ll have it seeping out the cracks of your letters and also maybe you’ll glue a Home Depot receipt to your fingers I’m just saying. Always use super glue in a well-ventilated area. Even though it’s tiny and you don’t use much, that stuff will give you a headache so fast.
4. Once the glue is dry, spray the clear acrylic across the top and around the edges to seal the wood. Using an upside-down coffee cup holder worked really well so I didn’t have to worry about my coasters sticking to the Ulta catalog when I sprayed the sides of the ceramic tiles. I used about six thin coats of paint on the top of these because I knew they’d be sitting with wet cups all of the time and I’m pedantic.
5. Cut out felt in the same size as your coaster. Hot (or super) glue the felt to the bottom of the coasters so they don’t scratch your tables.
That was actually really easy and fast. My sister is going to love these and also I’m going to love not having water marks on the table. Win-win!
ooh I want to do this but leave spaces blank so it looks more like a Scrabble game in progress with words criss-crossing… now to think of the words and figure out where I could get all this stuff over here… oh well I have til payday to think it out! :D
You could maybe use a resin to fill in the empty spaces to make a level surface. http://www.save-on-crafts.com/liqilreskitb.html Maybe like this?
You could definitely use resin. Just make sure you get epoxy resin, and seal the wood first with Mod Podge or clear acrylic spray. You could probably just tape around the edges of the tile so the resin didn’t run everywhere.
These look cool! Although I think they look slightly more like Boggle coasters. Especially the one on the left, where you could make “fist.”
i’ll definitely be making these soon.
I love this idea. Last time we made bags. How about a crossword puzzle coaster?
I love the things you say for the difficulty levels. Sorry is frustrating. Especially when it’s a version where every turn you have to answer a question about supreme court cases.
WAIT I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SUPREME COURT SORRY
TELL ME ABOUT THIS THING
I had two thoughts when I saw the title of this article
1. This is awesome
2. Why can’t I stop losing to my sister at Scrabble???!!!
Now I’m basically going to send this link to my sister and take advantage of her love for scrabble and boastfulness about always winning and con her into making these for me.
I just feel like this picture (http://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/DSC_0626.jpg) has to be some kind of lesbian Rorschach test, because I saw ‘Bryn’ and ‘MHC’.
I visited my sister last month and stayed with her for 3 weeks. In that time, our only argument was over Scrabble. I’m so going to make these for her.
I generally don’t make things. I’m not crafty. Or arty. But I made these! And it was super easy as well! And lots of people seem really, really impressed with them/my craftiness. So, thanks so for writing this and helping me to seem impressive to people!