How to Make a Ceramic Drink Coaster With Glaze

Drink coasters can be made of cardboard or more durable ceramic or plastic materials.

Drink coasters are practical in any home and you can create some decorative pieces to protect your tables from glass ring marks. A simple project to make drink coasters is by using ceramic tiles, but if you want to use glaze, you need to start the project from scratch, hand-building the coasters and using glazes after the initial bisque firing. Glazes add shine and make the ceramic pieces more durable.

Things You'll Need

• Clay
• Cardboard pattern
• Ruler or compass
• Scissors
• Rolling pin
• Wooden board
• Toothpick
• Cutter or sharp needle
• Fine-grit sandpaper
• Sponge
• Electric kiln
• Textile gloves
• Glazes
• Paintbrushes

Instructions

1. Decide on the size and shape for your coasters and draw the chosen shape on a piece of cardboard. Use a ruler if you want to make rectangular-shaped coasters or a compass to make a circle. Cut out the cardboard shape, which you will use as a pattern for your coasters.

2. Choose the clay for your drink coasters. Most clays have similar pricing and all types of clay (e.g., earthenware, porcelain) can be glazed. The difference between the different types of clay is in the mineral compounds, the purity of the clay and the firing temperatures. Porcelain is fired to higher temperatures and has a smoother texture than earthenware or stoneware.

3. Condition the clay with your hands to make the material softer. Hard clay is difficult to work with, especially when you use the technique of hand-building.

4. Use a rolling pin to make a larger piece of clay slab on a wooden board. Measure that the clay has the same thickness in all points of the slab using a toothpick or a needle.

5. Use the cardboard pattern and a cutter or a sharp needle to cut eight or more drink coasters. Start from a corner of the clay slab you created. Make another clay slab, if needed.

6. Allow the coasters to harden and remove any clay remaining between the coasters. The pieces should dry to leather hardness.

7. Sand the drink coasters to smooth the surface and use a sponge to remove the dust that forms.

8. Load the coasters in an electric kiln. Electric kilns have shelves and you can stack the coasters. The first firing is also known as bisque firing and is performed to lower temperatures than the glaze firing. The firing takes between two and 12 hours, depending on the size and type of kiln.

9. Remove the drink coasters from the kiln after the kiln cools down. Use thick textile gloves when you handle the warm ceramic pieces.

10. Allow the coasters to cool down completely. Start applying the glazes with paintbrushes of different sizes. Use a single color or paint patterns, dots, lines, letters or other motifs.

11. Load the drink coasters into the kiln and perform the glaze firing. Remove the pieces from the kiln after the firing is finished.

Tips & Warnings

• To prevent the clay from sticking to the wooden table and make the removal of the coasters easier, spread some cornstarch on the surface you work on.

• You obtain brighter colors if you fire the pieces to a lower temperature. If firing the coasters to a higher temperature, the colors tend to be earthy.

• Don't stack the drink coasters when you perform the second firing and keep a considerable distance between the glazed pieces so that they don't touch and the glazes are not affected.

• Glazes change color when exposed to high temperatures, so expect to see a difference between the colors you use when you glaze your coasters and the final results. Commercial glazes typically mention the recommended firing temperatures and the colors that result after firing.

References

• Out of the Fire Studio: How to Make Pottery
• Pottery-on-the-Wheel.com: Pottery Glazes -- Finishing Your Clay Pot Projects