DIY Miss Peregrine Coasters!

Posted by Guest

Guest Post from Kersten Fons of the the Brentwood Library

Planning a book club for teens is amazingly fun, but challenging.  They are very picky about the books they read and don’t want anything too "schoolish." I try to combine a cool craft with each book I pick, and since I fell in love with the terrific pictures in Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, I wanted to do something that incorporated the pictures into the craft.  So I came up with… photo transfer tile coasters!

You Will Need:

  • Peculiar photos from Miss Peregrine (scan or photocopy them out so you don't have to ruin your copy!)
  • Golden gel matte medium (available at craft stores or online)
  • Tiles 
  • Cardboard
  • Sponge & water
  • Felt
  • Scissors
  • Foam brush
  • Sharpie
  • Mod Podge (available at craft stores or online)
  • Tacky glue

Instructions

Do the following prep steps ahead of time (I did mine a week ahead of the program with the teens)

1. Cover tiles with Golden Gel Matte Medium. I did 2 coats, letting them dry overnight.  We had old tiles left over from another project.

2. Cover front of picture with thin coat of Golden Gel Medium.

3. Flip picture over and press down removing all air bubbles.

4. Bake tiles on newspaper at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. 

Day-of Instructions (do these with the teens!)

1. Use wet sponge to make all the tiles damp, then go back and carefully rub on upside down pictures to remove the paper.  Don’t be too rough, or the picture will come off (you can see I was a little too rough and took off part of the chin!) The paper will come off in layers and makes messy pieces.  If you let a piece dry slightly, you can see if it needs more work if the picture looks cloudy.  

2. We used a template to cut felt for the bottom of the tiles and then used tacky glue to attach the felt. We covered the top of finished tile in a thin layer of Mod Podge, and I sent them home with the foam brush and a small cup of Mod Podge so that they could do more layers on top of the picture. It's okay if the photo comes off a little with rubbing–just adds to the fun!