Introduction: Rubix Coasters

About: I am a conceptual artist, and my DIY projects are mostly inspired by pop culture (movies, music, sports, TV). I mostly specialize in painting, graphic design, drawing, digital photography, performance art, and…

In 1974, a Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Erno Rubik invented one of the most iconic namesake combination puzzles: the Rubik's Cube. However, it wasn't until the early 1980s, when the Rubix cube became one of the most played and most mind-boggling, never-solving puzzles of all time! For Rubix fans, this craft inspired by the popular puzzle is the most challenging, yet most efficient: make a set of 6 coasters (inspired by the Rubix cube's 6 sides) and possibly sell them for only $3! No math problem solving here!

Step 1: Get Your Materials

Here's what you will need to make your Rubix cube-inspired coasters:

  • 6 blocks of oven-baking clay in red, blue, yellow, orange, green and white (I used Scupley III)
  • rolling pin
  • hot glue gun
  • X-acto knife
  • ruler
  • black marker
  • cork board (not pictured)
  • scissors (not pictured)
  • acrylic paints and brushes (not pictured)

Step 2: Prep the Clay

To get started, you want to roll out your first color of clay. You don't want this clay to be too thin or too thick; just make sure that you roll to almost 1/8 of an inch thick, if possible.

Step 3: Cut and Bake the Squares

Now, for each color, measure and cut out 3 inch squares (as shown in the image) using an X-acto knife and ruler. Once you finished that, you're going arrange the 6 squares on a baking sheet covered with Reynold's wrap (preferably) and pop them in the oven and bake according to the directions. For my oven-bake clay, I baked them at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Make the Grids

When they're ready, take them out and let them cool off. Now, grab a black marker and make 6 grids, one for each square.

Step 5: Add a Cork

From there, fire up your hot glue gun and glue on a piece of cork board to the bottom of your square.

Step 6: Paint

Once you're done with that, add some color by using acrylic paints in the same colors as the clay. The colors will come out in different shades, depending on your clay, but that doesn't mean you're going to have an imperfect square! It's going to be unique!

P.S. Sorry about the bottom square in the middle. I was trying to fix the square to make it straight and ended up breaking the corner by mistake. So, I simply hot glued it back in place. When oven baking your clay, it can get fragile, so please be careful!

Step 7: Glaze

Now, take them outside and spray on an even layer of gloss varnish to seal in the colors!

Step 8: Display

Now, they're ready to be used for your drinks! You can make several of these and give them as a gift to any 80s fan, or these coasters would make great 80s party decorations!

P.S. I was originally going to make the 6 sides and put them together as one Rubix cube, but since it got a little bit out of shape, I had to change my game plan, so I recycled them into drink coasters! Perfect!

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