Spring Spider Wood & Resin Tray

This is a little tray I made a few weeks ago when I was feeling spooky and springy.

I made this tray using an unfinished wooden craft tray that’s a little smaller than this one. To start the project, I lightly sanded the tray to get rid of any rough edges. Then I stained it with a wood stain. I painted the bottom with white craft paint to help my images stand out.

The spider printed on paper was from a Halloween paper pack I got at Michael’s last year. It fit nearly perfectly in the bottom of this tray. I accented the spider with some transparent flower and leaf stickers and teeny tiny paper flowers. Then I coated all of this with a few layers of glossy Mod Podge to keep the paper from wrinkling when resin is introduced. I made sure to coat the tiny paper flowers too, getting it into all of the little crevices.

I let the last layer of Mod Podge dry overnight. The next morning I poured a thick layer of resin that was deep enough to cover the dimensional flower elements. This way the bottom of the tray is smooth and the tiny flowers look like they’re floating in the resin.

This made for a really cool effect that I wasn’t expecting! You can see how the darker dimensional flowers ended up different shades of purple. The spider paper had something printed on the back, I think an anatomical illustration with some words printed around it to look like a dictionary page. I didn’t preserve the whole piece of spider paper with Mod Podge before I put down the flower stickers, so you can see where the resin seeped through the sticker and into the paper. It looks like it was intentional! It adds a whole new element to it, without detracting from the spider and flowers.

I originally made this thinking it would be cute on a vanity or counter to organize jewelry or toiletries, but its new owner uses it as a rolling tray. It makes a perfect rolling tray because it’s smooth where the bottom meets the sides, so no ground up flower will get stuck in the seam.

This one is sold but check out my Etsy store to get a unique treasure of your own!

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