Race Bib Coaster Project

3 weeks into my 6 week cartilage harvest in my knee post surgery and I’m going out of my mind.  Out of complete boredom I decided to try to make some coasters out of my Ironman Hawaii bib number.  Or you can buy them online for anything from $20 to $40 for a set of 4.  The DIY way costs about $7 and takes about an hour total time, assuming you aren’t going to just sit there and watch glue dry all day.  If that’s your thing, this process takes most of a day.

And you don't need this blog to follow the process.  There are plenty of other blogs out there that detail it pretty well.  

Here’s what you will need:

4 to 6 white 4”x4” tiles

Mod Podge

Foam Brush

Clear Acrylic Sealer

You probably don’t want to use your real bib number.  Well, maybe you do.  If you do it’s likely going to be too small to completely fill the tiles though.  So you might want to add some other stuff to the ensemble, like the date of the race or your finishing time.  I opted to print my bib a bit larger than actual size so it would fit on six 4”x4” tiles.  I printed the bib so it just about filled an 8.5”x11” sheet and it seemed to fit pretty well on the tiles.

I picked out some tiles at Lowes that were very rough.  Some of them were overly pitted but I wanted them to be rough so the paper would adhere better.  I haven’t tried this on smooth tiles but I suspect it’d be good to scuff them up a bit with sandpaper if you try it.

After cutting the bib into 6 pieces I also decided to bevel the edges of each square of the puzzle so the corners wouldn’t be easy to snag and peel off. 

I put a layer of Mod Podge (find it at your local crafts store) on each tile using the foam brush and then placed the bib piece on and added a layer of Mod Podge over it.  I chose matte finish but there are tons of different styles of this stuff so pick your poison.  I also went with a foam brush so I wouldn’t have little hairy pieces of brush stuck to my artwork.  The Mod Podge will look white and filmy as it dries.  Don't worry.  It goes away.

I let that dry for about an hour and then added a second layer of Mod Podge.  I then let them dry for about 3 hours and then I sprayed a thin layer of clear acrylic sealer over each tile to protect them from any moisture that they might collect with a nice cold brewski sitting on top of them.  After 10 minutes I sprayed a second layer and an hour later one more layer.

I let them dry for a few hours and then added some felt pads to the bottom so they wouldn't scar the table.

And that’s all it took.  Pretty darned simple!