This might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever made.
We moved away from the San Francisco Bay Area to the California foothills this past summer, and I finally have the space to dream a little bigger. Costume building is a perfect hobby, if your maker space is a table in a shared back bedroom. In the new place, I have a 20’x30′ shop. Possibilities are unfolding! I’ve got room to grow, expand, make big stuff (and bigger messes). I’m so amazingly grateful for the circumstances that have led me to this.
In my last house, we’d built a low tatami table surrounded by an LED and glass pebble “river” in the floor. We left the whole setup with the delighted new owners, and found ourselves in need of a dining table for the new place. I’ve always loved resin river tables, and had dabbled a bit with resin projects. How hard could it be to make one?
And from there, it was no great leap to realize I wanted one that lit up, because, that’s kinda my thing.
Luckily, my fabulous husband is usually supportive of my crazy ideas. Epoxy resin is a sticky, goopy mess. It gets everywhere, and mixing cups and drop cloths took over our shop for months. Half our tools now have permanently sticky handles, and we had to put a new top onto the work table to cover the uncured spills. If this keeps up, I may need a whole separate shop just for resin.
It’s not perfect. It’s really far from perfect. There are countless flaws that I see every day and could point out in detail, but for once I’m not going to. Every time I go downstairs my heart flips over and fills up a little more with beauty, so I consider this project a success.
Hey, maybe I’m growing as a maker.
Here’s the build tutorial over at the Adafruit Learning System. It goes into detail about a lot of the challenges I faced doing this project. I recommend that you try it. Your table may not be perfect either, but it will be yours. Send me a photo.
