Over the summer, my partner and I came into a TON of wood slabs - see my dad had a tree cut down but kept the trunk in slices to repurpose. We dug through them, ideas spewing left and right; make one a guitar or a table…what about a skateboard?!? My partner, suddenly gasped excitedly and I followed his eyes to the slab with a perfect hole in the middle, “what if we turned it into a shelf?” he said. Genius.

After he did some research, we decided on Epoxy resin, but what to fill it with?!

Luckily, he’s incredible with woodwork and was able to create a shelf, also made of wood, for the slab to rest on once it was complete..thanks, babe!

We begin the process in June and faced many trials and errors along the way. It took us over a week to discover silicone!

After getting the initial layer of resin down we began filling it. Flowers, mushrooms, glass, rocks, crystals, feathers, even a butterfly I found in my driveway! Not to mention a 4-leaf clover and refracting orb! I had so so so much fun gathering and hunting (ethically of course) for all the contents! It relit my love for stopping and smelling the roses per se.

Now like I said, this was no short task. Storms, humidity, job and family responsibilities, pets, school, and a pandemic all came full speed ahead. On top of this, we did not have a covered or indoor workspace in the mountain elements so most of the time we were running the slab back and forth from covered sides of the house and doing extremely thin layers at a time to allow moving and drying time. By the time it was said and done it was September…then November by the time it was on my wall. It was so heavy and required special nails and stud searching.

But now, it is done! I can honestly say I beam with happiness every single time I see it. We were able to get it to bar height in my bedroom; my wax burner beams through the bottom illuminating the treasures inside.

It was such a fun experience with the person I love doing something that I love.