Having stand out coasters is a great way to improve your living space – and marble effect ones you handmade yourself are bound to wow any visitors. As we reflect on our own homes, having perhaps packed up the home office or simply looked at how we can enjoy our own space more, this is the perfect way to add colour and personality to your home. By making your own coasters you can add that bit of sparkle with something completely unique you won’t find in any other home and even learn a new skill. Warning, there is a chance you may get the bug for it!
Resin based home accessories can be made on your kitchen table, with no specialist equipment, it isn’t too messy, and you don’t use any harmful chemicals. You simply create a hard setting material – which you can mix into any colour you want – leave it in a mould and cure it to become your own piece of art and one of the exciting small touches in your home.
Our Jesmonite Starter kits have increased in popularity exponentially over the past year. We now sell on average 900 of them each month – double the monthly sales from December 2020! It is a beginner friendly set giving you the opportunity to make your own coasters – the perfect start to your Jesmonite journey. But do remember you can use the water-based resin to make pretty much anything, and the possibilities are endless – from table-tops, trinket trays, mirrors, plant pots to much much more. Using the starter kit you can make plain coasters, terrazzo coasters, block colour coasters or even try something new. Here we’re focusing on the marble effect coaster.
What you need
The Official Jesmonite Starter Kit contains:
● AC100 Liquid
● Jesmonite Base
● 3 pigments
● stirring sticks
● 2 re-usable coaster moulds
● gloves
And that is everything you will need to make your marble effect coaster.
How to do it
Here’s our step-by-step guide to making marble effect coasters using the official Jesmonite Starter Kit:
Marble step by step YouTube video.
Weigh out your Jesmonite liquid firstly, and then your Jesmonite Base.
Square mould: Weigh out 56g of liquid and 144g of Jesmonite base.
Hexagon mould: Weigh 36g of liquids and 90g of Jesmonite base.
Slowly mix Jesmonite liquid and base together until smooth and free from lumps.
Time for some colour! To create a marble effect, add a few drops of your pigment into the mixture and gently mix it in until you have a mixture of colour to white. This will give you a lovely marble pattern when you pour.
Pour the mixture into the mould until level.
Leave your creation to set for two hours in a cool dry place.
Time to de-mould your beautiful creation! Once you have taken it out of the mould, it will gain its full strength after 24 hours. Jesmonite needs all the moisture to evaporate to gain its strength so leave it to dry!
Six easy steps!
Check out the Jesmonite TikTok for more tips and tricks.
Common mistakes to avoid!
While you are mixing your Jesmonite liquid and base together scrape around the sides to check you get all the powder. Don’t want to leave any in there and make your quantities off balance! Mix, mix, mix and then mix some more! When adding your pigment to make the marble effect, if you add too much it will stop the Jesmonite from setting and make the cast weak. Be cautious! Once you have your mixture, it will begin to set within 5 minutes, make sure to move onto the next step right away. When you have poured your mixture into the mould gently tap the sides of the mould, whilst the mixture is still liquid. This will stop air getting trapped in your finished creations. When leaving the creation to dry, place it on a rack where air can get to the top, bottom, and sides – like a wire rack you’d use in cooking – this is ideal for the Jesmonite coaster to fully dry.
Variations you can try
This is our guide to making a marble effect one but remember you could do a block colour one instead.
You could do a coaster with a pattern such as a heart on it – We recommend using a heart stencil for this technique and carefully pouring your mixture into it. May require a bit of practice! Or you could try the terrazzo effect – where you have small flecks of colour in your coaster. This can be achieved by collecting up any dried product from previous creations and breaking them up into small pieces, then mixing them in with your next creation (of a different colour!) while it is in liquid form before you pour it into the mould. Extra equipment – when trying the terrazzo effect, you will also need disposable cups, scales, and a plastic sheet. You can find video tutorials of how to achieve this on social media.
If you want to try other ideas or just look for more inspiration visit our Instagram @jesmonite_ltd to see what exciting projects are being made from Jesmonite by people all over the world! And if you’re trying out Jesmonite for the first time, tag us in your gorgeous creations by using our hashtag #Jesmonite – we love to see and share your work! You can buy your Jesmonite starter kit from your local distributor, find your nearest here.
Share this post
More from Jesmonite
