This beer coaster shadow box has been on my to do list for a while, pretty much from the moment I finished the wine cork holder shadow box. My husband and I both enjoy craft breweries and regional brews, so we always try to remember to bring a coaster back with us from the breweries or brew pubs we visit. It’s a nice way to remember places we’ve visited without buying a souvenir that we’ll never use or display.
I picked up another blank shadow box just like the one I used for my wine cork shadow box at Michael’s over the holidays, and I finally had time to create the stencil this weekend. You can read a more detailed tutorial from my post for the wine cork holder. I still had Martha Stewart brand glass etching cream left over from my two previous glass etching projects. It gets a little discolored in the bottle over time, but still works perfectly.
I made the beer coaster shadow box stencil first using Adobe Illustrator and then transferring into the Silhouette Cameo Design Studio and cut out using contact paper.
After cutting my stencil, I got my shadow box ready. I cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol and then applied my stencil. This is always the most nerve-wracking part for me. The contact paper is pretty sticky, so you only get one shot to get it on straight.
This was the first time I didn’t use a paint brush to apply the glass etching cream. I always end up spreading out with my finger so I skipped the paint brush all together. The directions tell you to wear gloves, but I haven’t had any issues with the few minutes of skin contact I’ve had with the cream. As with my prior projects, I did two rounds of application. Apply in a thick even coat, wait 15 minutes, rinse, dry, repeat.
Here’s what it looked like after I rinsed the second time and had removed the stencil, but before cleaning with glass cleaner.
And here’s the final project with a few of our favorite coasters already in it. Hopefully my husband can get this hung up in the kitchen along with our wine cork shadow box holder, which has just been sitting on the counter the past several months waiting for its friend the beer coaster shadow box to be able to be hung up.
We’ve got quite a few good micro-breweries here in Des Moines. One of our favorites in town is Confluence. If you find yourself in the Des Moines, area, check them out! Here’s a picture from this summer of us enjoying a few house brews. They have 80’s board games you can play while you’re there too… Operation or Girl Talk anyone?
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great idea.i’ve been collecting coasters from our travels, and i have them propped up around our basement bar.this is a nice idea.