Wednesday 19 November 2008

Tile Magnet Tutorial

Stone tile fridge magnets

Materials
5cm x 5cm stone tiles (they come in sheets from your local tile or DIY shop)
acrylic paints
magnets (as many as you have tiles)
1x tube superglue (or all purpose crafting glue)
1x can varnish spray



Step one: remove a tile from the sheet of backing it is stuck to. Clean and leave to dry out.



Step two: sketching your design. I sketched directly onto the tile, but you can draw your design onto some tracing paper and transfer it to your tile. Alternatively if you don’t draw or sketch you can used rubber stamps to stamp on a design.



Step three: paint your design using acrylic paints. I used them because I normally use acrylics in my art, they dry quickly and are pretty durable.



Step four: I sprayed my tiles with an acrylic varnish (2 coats)


Step 5: glue the magnet to the back of the tile. (the magnets I bought came with adhesive on the back but it was not nearly strong enough to hold the tile up. I know because I tried it and the tiles clattered down to the counter top)


I'm really happy with how they turned out, and seeing as there are several more sheets of tiles in the garage I plan to make some more tiles up as Christmas presents. I may even rope H into helping by getting him to make some Jelly Bean People magnets. I hope you find this tutorial fun and helpful.
p.s. if you look closely at the last picture you will see that they are indeed my kitchen tile leftovers. The noticeboard is a metal topped shelf from Ikea.

18 comments:

Debbs said...

I love them, I like the stone texture under the paint :0)

Unknown said...

thank you for that great tutorial. They'd make really nice christmas presents for H's teacher if he made some, wouldn't they?

Anonymous said...

Lovely tutorial, and a great idea!

x vInTaGe VioLeT x said...

they're great Meri - good tutorial too.

Sam Gillespie said...

They look great Meri! Just wish I could paint... like the rubber stamp idea though!!

Anonymous said...

Love these! They're so cute :) Great tutorial... I may have to try this some time...

Gone to Earth said...

These are beautiful. What a lovely idea for presents that are special. Nice tutorial. Thank you

Craft Matters said...

I love them! Fantastic idea. I am definitely going to make some of these as Xmas presents. Don't suppose my painting will compare with yours.

Hannah said...

This is such a good idea, thanks for the tutorial.

Tamara said...

How cut are these magnets? Do you mind if I put a link to your tute on my blog? Tam x

Suzanne Vaughan said...

Meri - these were an inspired idea! I think the jelly bean people would be great too!

muralimanohar said...

Nice. There is a tile shop near me that gives away tile offcuts and bits for artists..I wonder if I could snag something like these to try??

Kimberland Designs said...

This is such a great tutorial! Thanks for making it. I will have to try this during the chrissie holidays.

Kim =)

jillytacy said...

What a great tutorial. I love these!

Deb said...

How did you resolve the magnet issue? Did you buy stronger magnets? I am in the process of making just such a project, but am finding that stronger magnet are expensive.

Deb said...

How did you resolve the magnet issue? Did you buy stronger magnets? I am in the process of making just such a project, but am finding that stronger magnet are expensive.

Scottzipx said...

What a great tutorial. I love these!

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