Utlmate Guide to Epoxy Resin Sculpture Art: Turning a olivewood to Coral Reel

HI FRIENDS, I AM TONY, THE CO-FOUNDER OF POURLA EPOXY. IN THIS BLOG, I WILL SHARE THE WHOLE PROCESS OF TURNING A uniquely shaped Olivewood Cookie INTO A one of the kind wood and epoxy resin sculpture USING THE POURLA DEEP POUR EPOXY

STEP 1: Clean Up the Wood

As with all epoxy resin wood projects, I have to clean up the wood, removing all the bark and loose bits. The best way I have found is to use a chisel for the large pieces of bark, then use wire brush wheels to clean up the remaining parts.

Afterward, I used my CNC to flatten the piece. This way, I can conserve some epoxy resin.

Step 2: Mold

I constructed a mold with scrap pieces of plywood. The most important part is tapping off all the surfaces and sealing all the edges and corners with silicon so epoxy won’t leak. I also used hot glue to secure the piece to the mold so it would not float when epoxy resin was poured.

Step 3: Mixing Epoxy Resin

POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy Resin has an extended working time and can pour up to 4 inch thick so it’s the perfect choice for this wood epoxy resin art. In total, I used 2 gallons of POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy Resin for this project.

I also used a vacuum chamber to degas the epoxy. This step is totally optional. Since POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy Resin takes 2-4 days to cure, all the bubbles will dissipate naturally. I only did this for video purposes. Here is a comparison of epoxy resin before and after using the vacuum chamber. You can clearly see all the bubbles are sucked out.

Step 4: It’s Time to POUR!!!!

I poured a base layer first. Then used a brush to seal all the cracks on the wood, which there were a lot. This way, air inside the cracks won't come out when the epoxy resin is curing.

After a day, the rest of the POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy Resin is poured into the mold.

Step 5: Demold and Clean Up

After waiting for 3 days, the POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy Resin is fully cured, and it’s ready to be demolded. I also used my CNC to remove the excess material, which is a very messy operation.

Step 6: Carving

I wanted to create the look of an ocean wave for this epoxy resin art. Normally, people just add white lines in the epoxy. However, I wanted to try a different approach.

Using a sanding wheel on an angle grinder, I carved irregular slots on the back of the piece, mimicking the look of ripples. When light shines through, it will create an interesting 3D texture.

This process is also extremely messy. So please wear a mask when doing it.

Step 7: Finishing

The carved back is very rough. One interesting fact about epoxy resin is that you can simply pour more epoxy resin on it and all the sanding marks will disappear. Therefore, I mixed some POURLA Art Epoxy Resin and poured it on this piece’s back.

Afterward, I sanded and polished the front of the piece, and here is the stunning result:

FINALLY

My team and I are more than happy to answer any questions you may have about this project or our epoxy resin. Feel free to reach out to us anytime at [email protected]—we're here to help!