Another Domino Idea -- Coasters!

In my rush to assemble Christmas gifts for friends and family, I took another look at my large pile of dominoes and thought, why not try coasters?


I started with small wooden dominoes. They fit together nicely and, even better, I could fit a Scrabble tile in the middle to fill the gap. I glued them to a piece of Parcheesi game board leftover from making a blank book.

I made 4 coasters, a matched set!

Before I wrapped them, I showed my husband (a skilled product tester). He immediately spotted a problem -- their size. He tried placing a glass on top to show where I'd gone wrong.

Back to the drawing board! I got out my larger, heavy-duty plastic dominoes. I wasn't sure what to put in the middle -- a Scrabble tile would be too small. Instead, I inserted 6 tiny wooden blocks from another old game (Risk). This coaster passed the glass test.

I proudly showed my husband version 2 of the coaster. He was happy with the size, but pointed out a new problem -- the underside of each coaster. The cardboard would easily absorb water and be ruined. 

So I rushed to the nearest Michael's and bought a large cork tile. I cut it into 4 squares and glued one to each coaster. After pressing them overnight to seal the glue, I was finished!

But I didn't want to let those 4 original coasters go to waste. I glued them together onto a larger cork square, and voila, a trivet!

Here's hoping my family enjoys these gifts as much as I liked making them.