Bunny Boiler 177 Posted July 19, 2013 Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 As a spin off money earner I make coasters from almost anything. This includes fabric ones from scrap material, circuit boards for the geeky type and other plastic materials I can set into acrylic. I was wondering about rabbit skin or deer skin tops. So my questions are: A) would you buy/take interest in them if I could make them for a reasonable price? would you expect them to be waterproof or covered in acrylic? (my idea was so you have a cured rabbit skin coaster, where you can still see and feel the fur properly, but it may mean spillages from drinks stain, absorb or rot the coaster. I would test them before selling). C) what do you think a reasonable price is for a set of 4 drink coasters that are hand made from recycled goods and skins? Any other ideas for coasters are also appreciated! Cheers, BB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bosun11 537 Posted July 19, 2013 Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Personally, any hunting 'theme' is always sellable. Whatever the material used, give it a hunting/dogs twist and things like that go. You only have to look at country fairs and ebay. Waterproof, just think how many on here would use sommat like that for whilst sipping Pimm's by their pools in this weather..!! Joking aside, of course waterproof..!! Good for you for getting up an having a go, best of luck an keep us posted... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bunny Boiler 177 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Personally, any hunting 'theme' is always sellable. Whatever the material used, give it a hunting/dogs twist and things like that go. You only have to look at country fairs and ebay. Waterproof, just think how many on here would use sommat like that for whilst sipping Pimm's by their pools in this weather..!! Joking aside, of course waterproof..!! Good for you for getting up an having a go, best of luck an keep us posted... Of course the mat would be waterproof in the sense that the skin is cured and made waterproof, but the hairy furry bit was on about. That part of the pelt. Would you want to be able to feel the texture or do you just want the agouti colouring inside an acrylic plastic case. To explain what I do with the circuit boards. I take an old PCB (printed circuit board) and remove any large components (resisters etc). If you have ever looked inside anything electronic, it is the green slab with wires in it. I then use a spray painted acrylic on the surface to make it 100% watertight and flat. It means they wipe clean easy and are not rough or going to scratch so easily. They are then cut to size and attached to either a foam board (for mouse mats) or to cork board for coasters. The process for rabbit skins would be to cure it so it won't rot and then stretch it over a rigid surface such as old discarded coasters, or anything that is 4 inches by 4 inches to make the coaster the then rigid rabbit skin top is applied to the cork board to stop it sliding on your table. My question is, should I acrylic the fur so the fur cannot absorb any liquid and have it so it is basically between two bits of plastic and you only have the colours. I hope this makes more sense and cheers for the feedback. Also, thinking to winter, I would look to test them with heat from hot mugs. Does it discolour etc. Basically, I'm not gunna sell anything people are going to be unhappy with or that I wouldn't use myself due to quality. Cheers, BB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wildbee 1 Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 Hi BB sounds goregous. Defo have the fur/hair au naturelle, people will want to stroke them! so long as they don't get too wet and wiped with a towel the fur should dry out easy enough but if it soaks through into the flesh and then drys it may warp? a hair (rather than fur) coaster would be easier to wipe and also flatter to put things on if it was short hair. Surely people would try not spill things on their handmade fur coasters?! A spotty fallow skin would look nice WB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bunny Boiler 177 Posted August 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2013 Hi BB sounds goregous. Defo have the fur/hair au naturelle, people will want to stroke them! so long as they don't get too wet and wiped with a towel the fur should dry out easy enough but if it soaks through into the flesh and then drys it may warp? a hair (rather than fur) coaster would be easier to wipe and also flatter to put things on if it was short hair. Surely people would try not spill things on their handmade fur coasters?! A spotty fallow skin would look nice WB I haven't quite had a chance to getting round to making any, but it's definitely still on my mind! Need to get some materials and dry some skins to practice with and experiment. I'll make several types to start and test them under different conditions, then put it back to you guys. Cheers for the replies, BB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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