How to make a unique tile picture for less than $3!

Step 7 Finished!

Now you might want to put tiles into a frame or just stick to a piece of board and put on your wall.

Good luck!

Comments

[dburcombe]

I'm new to this site, but thought I might be able to offer another inexpensive idea, which I have used in mixed media collage pieces, to transfer the image. This will work with color images as well. Get your image, flip it so it is mirrored, print onto standard laser paper (will not work with and inkjet printer), brush Clear caulking sealant onto the tiles(shown in picture: Home Depot; Approx $4.00), press the reversed image face down onto the tiles, let dry. Make sure none of the sealant gets on the back of the paper. Once dry, soak the entire thing in water. Start rubbing the paper off as it's disintegrating. The image will stay as the paper is washed away. If you'd prefer, coat the new image with one more layer of the caulking. Super duper easy.

[TCPils]

How long will it take for the sealant to dry? The package says 7 to 14 days!

[batvans46]

we did this same thing in my alternative photography class.

[joefed62]

This is awesome! I've been looking to do this sort of thing, but was never sure how to go about it. Thought about using liquid Femo, but have never had much success with that method. This seems like just the process I am looking for and I can't wait to try it. Thanks so much for putting this together!

[airfan1]

good idea thumb for you

[Mitza.]

Awesome! This could go even faster with www.blockposters.com. Great idea with the tiles! Thanks. :)

[28.martine]

what do you think about wedding pics as coasters!! my friend just got married

[balletbell22]

I was thinking the same thing!!! :)

[yngla]

That would make a great gift! I guess you would have to seal them with a better kind of glue.

[28.martine]

finish it of with glitsa? paint is for stairs. Maybe it works I did not get around it yet.

[jd1702]

I'm planning on making this for my boyfriend for Christmas. Any suggestions on how to attach the tiles together in order to hang them on the wall?

[tanveerhj]

Good idea. Can't we use colour photo to do this? Or we can only do this in black and white?

[yngla]

Go ahead and try! I would love to see the result!

[wild_hemlock]

Beautiful... Will definitely be trying this. But with an inkjet, since that's what I have. Question: Did anyone try the iron-transfer method? How'd that work?

[chase3536]

 We bought our tiles at home depot as well. Very good price.....

[leopoldb]

I'm not a ceramacist (I made up that word but it works real good for me) however what about this thought:

1. Use an iron-on method to apply the design to the tile
2. Take the tiles to a shop where they fire ceramic stuff for people (called greenware I believe) and have them re-fire the tiles with clear glaze.  Then they'd truly be tough and usable for bathroom surrounds, etc.
They may also have pre-made greenware tiles appropriate for this use.

Leopold B

[will_newton]

Sorry Leopold, pottery is biqsue fired at about 1700 degrees F and the paper ignites at 451 degrees F.  Also, once most ceramics pieces have been fired to completion, the clay has vitrified and cannot take the thermal shock of being fired again and unless extreme care is taken, they will shatter.

There are special pottery decals that can be custom printed.  They are printed with ink made from high-temp ceramic materials on special printers.  I found a few spots online, just run a search for "custom pottery decals"

will

[pyro ray]

There is another way that you could do this, and I’m sure it will cost you more than $3.00 but it may be a little easier to work with
in my "younger days" I use to put B&W pictures of my girlfriend on my white Gibson flying V guitar and one of the local copy shops I went to had this really cool transparent satin finished sheets of stuff that was called

REPO FILM (not sure of the spelling) but they could print any color but white as copy machines don't copy in white
and the way that I put them on was like this:
cut it to size
got a spray bottle and mixed up some real soapy water
and sprayed on the area I was putting the film on
peeled the back off and put it into place
and then with a real soft small squeegee or soft putty knife (but the putty knife could scratch your image) work all the excess water and soap suds out and once it dries you could spray some thing over the top of it to protect the image from getting damage

[Warthaug]

Have you tried transferring the image by printing on glossy paper and then using a hot iron to transfer the image to the tiles? I don't know how well it would work (it works well for making circuit boards), but it may actually allow you to transfer the image and have no paper left on the tile.

Here's an example of how it's done with circuit boards; just an idea, I have no idea if it'll work ;-)

http://www.instructables.com/id/EA9A8SDWA9EYF7IYXZ/

[nelelr]

I was thinking along these same lines- I know they sell "iron on" paper for making T shirts I wonder if you could IRON it onto a tile rather than a piece of material- If NOT- I know they also make special inkjet paper called 'tattoo paper" Sometimes i Decorate my notebooks/cellphones etc with temporary tattoos using a moist paper towel etc- they last much longer when used as "decals" then they would on skin especially if you go the extra mile and "super seal" it or wrap the entire tile in tight SeranWrap to protect and make shiny the underlying print. as long as no one is seeing the bottom where the seran wrap gets taped up it would probably look pretty cool Has anyone tried any of these techniques im really most interested in knowing if IRON on images made with an inkjet will iron onto things other than T shirts

[DigiDiskette]

Hey, I know this was months ago but I just found this place and HAD to reply. What you're thinking about is Dye Sublimation and YES it does work. However, the heat transfer paper will only put the image on the tile if it's specially coated with some sort of magic goop. The tiles come pre-gooped from many online distributors, but they cost like you wouldn't believe. This DIY method seems to be much easier and cost-effective, especially for a gift. I don't quite know if it'd hold up as well if used like an actual tile-- like in a shower or behind a sink, where it'd get wet and worn-- but as far as decoration goes, it seems to be acceptable enough! =D Sorry for the super late reply (Joined a whole forty-five seconds ago! YAY!). I do the teeshirt thing for a living and gave the tiles a shot for giggles sake a while back.

[cd41]

makes sense, never heard of "tattoo paper" but cool i think if you put something to seal the imagine in it would stay, should try to find this "Tattoo paper" and try it some time

[ward2u]

very good idea

[drjmoney]

So exactly how did you get the wrinkles out? I have tried about 10 times and each time it either tears or is wrinkled.

[drjmoney]

Thanks, I tried the iron method and it worked much better. Maybe I used el-cheapo tissue paper :)

[yngla]

Hm. I don´t recall any wrinkles. I guess good old Freud would have an idea of why :) Someone had a good idea of making like this: "It's very hard to get the picture on the tile without any wrinkles. But it works perfectly with an iron. Put the decoupage glue on the tile, let it dry. When it's dry, lay the paper on the tile, place a piece of bakingpaper on top and begin to iron (heat on 2). Within seconds, the paper is stuck on the tile without wrinkles!" I haven´t tried that, but it might work.

[Heyentah]

Go to your favorite Scrapbooking Store and ask for "Super Seal" (marketed by Creative Imaginations). You can spray your finished project and make it water-resistant (although I call it water PROOF). You can use Super Seal as your top coat instead of brushing glue on it and you'll have no brush strokes. This is great stuff, you can use it on paper, metal, cloth, anything! I spray my party balloons to increase their life!

[justinhyp]

I just did this today! But with a picture of Einstein with his tongue out. It is drying right now. I hope I can get a pic. Great instructable!

[sewjo]

This is a great idea. You could use foam core board instead of tiles too. Less weight to hang and probably less expensive.

[justinhyp]

the tiles cost about 60 cent a piece at home depot

[hoorayfortrees]

This is really cool. I think I may do the same thing but use them as coasters

[payton960]

good idea. this will be a great christmas present for my parents.

[rockyt]

very nice.