HOW TO MAKE PRETTY COASTERS

YOU WILL NEED

✽ Wipeable mat or tablecloth ✽ Rubber gloves ✽ Two-part Epoxy resin ✽ Disposable cups and a jug for measuring ✽ Wooden stirring sticks ✽ Silicone coaster moulds ✽ Dried flowers ✽ Scissors ✽ Butane gas lighter

✽ Clear sticky bumpers

TO MAKE

❶ Prepare the craft area with a wipeable mat or tablecloth. Put on your rubber gloves before starting to mix the resin.

❷ Mix up the two-part resin following the manufacturers’ instructions (it’s usually a ratio of 1:1, so you can decant equal amounts into two cups). Then pour into a third cup or jug and mix together with a wooden stick. You usually need to stir for a few minutes.

❸ Pour the mixture into the base of the coaster moulds, adding enough to give you a good layer at the bottom to stick the dried flowers in.

❹ Trim the flowers down so the stems are short enough to fit in the coaster moulds. Place them carefully into the resin in the moulds.

❺ Mix a further amount of epoxy resin, again with the same 1:1 ratio. Pour the resin over the dried flowers until they are covered and the mould is full.

❻ Allow all the bubbles to rise to the surface of the resin and then, using the butane gas lighter, burn the bubbles away. Just be careful not to get too close, as you can singe the dried flowers!

❼ Cover the moulds and leave them somewhere safe and cool to dry for 24-36 hours, until fully cured.

Then peel back the moulds to reveal your beautiful resin coasters. Add some sticky bumpers to the bottom of each coaster to prevent them from getting scratched by the surface

– or the other way around!