Supplies

  • 13-inch x 9-inch unfinished wood tray
  • White primer spray paint
  • Orange spray paint
  • Amazing Goop all-purpose contact adhesive
  • 38 3/4-inch Mosaic Mercantile vitreous glass tiles, Canary Yellow
  • 32 3/4-inch Mosaic Mercantile vitreous glass tiles, Pumpkin
  • 32 3/4-inch Mosaic Mercantile vitreous glass tiles, Tangerine
  • Three 4 1/2-inch-wide craft butterflies, yellow and orange
  • 12 inches of 20-gauge black wire
  • Wire snips
  • Round-nosed pliers
  • Wax paper
  • 2 heavy books
  • Gloves
  • 8-ounce Envirotex Lite Pour-on Finish kit
  • 2 10-ounce straight-sided paper cups
  • 2 chopsticks
  • Timer
  • Large dust-free box (big enough to fit over the tray)

Steps

1. Prime the tray and then spray-paint it orange on all sides. Inspect the inside edges of the tray and seal any gaps with the Amazing Goop.
2. Arrange tiles, shiny side up, in the tray, starting with a band of canary yellow, followed by pumpkin and then tangerine. Create a wave pattern so your design doesn't look like a flag.

More Holiday Crafting Fun

3. Arrange the butterflies so they are "flying" in the same direction as the wave pattern. Remove two tiles directly beneath each butterfly so the body fits down into the tray.
4. Apply a small dab of Amazing Goop to bottom, rough side of each tile and glue down. Apply Goop to underside of each butterfly and glue down.
5. Snip the antennas off each butterfly. To create new, curly antennas, cut a 4-inch length of wire, bend it in half, then curl each end with the round-nosed pliers. Glue antennas to the front of each butterfly.
6. Cover the tiles and butterflies with wax paper, and lay books on top to keep the butterflies flat while the glue cures. Wait about 10 minutes.
7. Put on your gloves! Following the directions on the Envirotex Lite box, pour the entire contents of the resin and the hardener into a paper cup. With a chopstick, whip the mixture thoroughly for one minute. Don't worry about bubbles. Pour the mixture into a second cup and, with a fresh chopstock, whip for one minute. Immediately pour the mixture into the tray, tipping the tray so the resin completely covers the tiles, butterflies, corners and crevices. Exhale (but don't inhale) over the tray to release the bubbles. If the resin doesn't completely cover your butterflies, just wait 8 hours and pour on another coat for a perfectly smooth finish.
8. Carefully place the tray on a level surface, then cover with a dust-free box and let cure undisturbed for 48 hours. It's worth the wait!

Tile Crazy: Vitreous glass tiles come in so many colors you'll want to make a tray for every season. Mix daisies with meadow-green tiles for spring, silk leaves with coppery tiles for autumn and silver snowflakes with light-blue tiles for a winter wonder. Tray chic!