Coiled Magazine Coasters

I thought I would show you my coiled magazine coasters.These are the coasters I made for our first house. We didn't really have any spare money to waste on things like coasters when we needed things like furniture, vacuums and microwaves. So a late night search and I found photos of coasters people had made from strips of magazine pages.

Perfect - old magazines and sticky tape. I never bothered putting felt on the bottoms or decorating the edges with ribbon, I like them how they are. After 3 years I am only down 3 coasters - they have lasted longer than the ones I bought at a store!

I did an internet search and found this tutorial which explains how to make the coils. I kind of made it up according to what I thought was easier when I made mine.

A quick run down for my way of folding the paper (let me know if you would like me to create a photo tutorial).

1. Cut strips from your magazine lengthwise that are 2 inches wide - you will need a lot of them so use a paper cutter or guillotine.
2. Fold each piece in half lengthwise.
3. Now fold the 2 lengthwise edges down into the middle.
4. You will now have strips of paper that are 1/2 inch wide. One side will have 1 folded edge, the other will have 2 folded edges.
5. When making my coasters I flipped my strips each time. Coil your first strip as tight as you can with the 1 folded edge facing up, then use a little bit of tape to tape the end to your coil. 
6. Take your next strip and with the 2 folded edges facing up this time, tape your new strip to your coil (make sure you butt it up against the end of the previous strip).
7. Coil it around and tape the end.
8. Keep repeating, ensuring to alternate the folded edges.

The tighter you wind your coils, the better it will look, and the better it will stay together. You will know if you are coiling tight enough when you feel your hands cramping!

And yes people will play with these. The will push the centres up and in some cases destroy the coasters. If you don't want this to happen, I suggest you glue felt on the bottom. People just don't realise how long it takes to finish one of these coasters!