Marbled Epoxy Serving Tray with Wood Burned Quote

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Did you know that you can tint Epoxy resin to just about any color you’d like? When you pour it like you might pour paint for a trendy marbled look it comes out super amazing! The shine is incredible and the process really is a lot easier than you might think. I made this Marbled Epoxy Serving tray with a Wood burned quote from one of my very favorite new movies recently, and I wanted to share the project with you here!

*Some of the supplies for this post were generously donated by the lovely folks at Environmental Technologies Inc. Affiliate links have been used in this post. Purchasing from these links won’t cost you more but I may be compensated for the referral which helps to keep the Craft Shack Adventures going! You can read my full disclosure here. Thank you for your support!*

I’ve been having some technical difficulties here on the blog for a few weeks. An update changed some things and I’ve not been able to add pictures to any posts. It was so frustrating, but it appears to be fixed finally and I can’t wait to get back to sharing with you! I’ve been working on some really fun things! I’ve also had the pleasure of joining the Resin Crafts Blog team! I’m having so much fun with the Resin projects! You can see the tutorial for my first project for them over on the Resin Crafts Blog by clicking here!

Here’s what you’ll need to make a Marbled Epoxy Serving Tray:

Walnut Hollow Serving Tray
Creative Versa-Tool Wood Burner
EnviroTex Lite Pour-on Epoxy
Castin’Craft Transparent and Opaque pigments
Disposable Mixing Cups
Stir Sticks
Protective wear (gloves, eyeglasses)
Stain (I used Rustoleum Kona)

Step one:

Prep your serving tray. I chose to stain my wood serving tray with my favorite dark stain color. I love Rustoleum Kona stain! You could use a lighter color stain, paint, or even leave the tray natural if you want. Whichever option you choose, make sure it’s completely dry before moving on.

Step two:

Wood burn a favorite quote or phrase onto the tray. Print the quote and transfer it to the tray easily with graphite tracing paper.

Trace the letters with the wood burner using slow and even pressure. I love the flow point tips for lettering because they don’t get caught up in the wood grain while burning the curvy letters.

Because I chose a dark stain, my lettering didn’t show up as well as I wanted. I put a poll on my Instagram stories asking your opinion on whether or not I should add some highlights to the letters so they’d stand out more. You said I should, so I did and it helped a lot! I really appreciated the feedback you shared with me there, thank you!

Step three:

Mix the first batch of Pour-on Epoxy Resin for the marbled epoxy half of the tray. For this part, I mixed up one big cup of the two-part epoxy and then separated it into smaller amounts to dye with the pigments. I mixed 7 oz of Epoxy (3.5 oz of each part) following the instructions specific to this brand.

Every brand is different, so be sure to read the instructions well! For the EnviorTex Lite brand, I needed to combine the two parts (Resin and Hardener), Mix for two minutes, then pour into a clean cup and mix again for another minute. Be sure to scrape the stir stick and the sides of the cup as you mix and always wear gloves! I like vinyl gloves when I’m working on messy projects.

After my epoxy was mixed, I poured it into smaller cups (about an ounce each) and added 1 drop of dye/pigment to each separate cup. I wanted blues and greens for my tray. I mixed a little bit of white into some of the blue colors and a little bit of green into other blue cups to get 7 different shades. 1 oz of each color.

Step four:

Elevate your tray over a covered pouring area (I set my tray on four plastic cups). Pour each color onto the tray one at a time. I only wanted half of the tray to be colored since I put the words on the other half so I was careful to pour the epoxy a little bit away from the letters. Pour the colored epoxy along the sides of the tray as well. Smooth in any blank spots with a stir stick or disposable paintbrush.

Once all of the colors have been poured onto the tray, pick it up and tip and tilt it to combine them and to get them to flow into all of the parts of the tray where you want them to be. This will make all those blobby colors mix together for that marbled epoxy look.

Step five:

Allow the Marbled Epoxy Resin to cure completely at least 24 hours. Within the first 20 minutes after you’ve poured the epoxy, pop any bubbles that have come to the surface using gentle heat from a heat gun, butane torch, or your own warm breath. Use a stir stick to scrape any drips forming along the bottom of the tray as well while they are still wet.

Step six:

Once your colored resin has dried completely, mix the second batch of pour-on epoxy (same amount) but leave it clear this time. Pour the clear epoxy over the second half of the tray. brush it up the sides of the tray, and around the outside edges. Tilt the tray so that the clear epoxy flows over the cured colored epoxy. when you lay the tray flat again, it will self-level into a nice even flat surface which is so cool to watch!

Allow the clear resin to cure for another 24 hours before using your new tray! Just look at that gorgeous dark wood grain shining under the epoxy! The shine is incredible!