I was at my Sisters house one day when I spotted a piece of wood under her carport.  It was in pretty bad shape but it looked so interesting I want to see if I could make something out of it. My first thought was a wooden sign but we all do that with a nice piece of wood. I wanted something different.  I decided on a wooden suncatcher, I had this idea in my head to drill holes in the wood and fill them with coloured epoxy resin.

Here is another idea for garden decor using a similar method, suncatcher with an African Sunset theme. 

How to make a wooden suncatcher

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Find a suitable piece of wood

For this project, you can use any wood, but something similar to this one would look great.  The surface on this piece of wood was very weathered and needed some TLC first.  Because I have been doing DIY using recycled products for a few years now and know it could be only surface damage. In the past, I have found once you sand the surface the wood is still great beneath.

Sanding the wood

My first step was to try and clean up the wood.  All the large pieces of loose wood were pulled off by hand first to prevent them from catching and ripping the sanding discs on the sander. To clean out the deep groove, I used a hammer and chisel to remove all the damaged wood.  

You can now use an orbital sander with 80 grit sanding discs to remove the bulk of the rough surface.  You can keep sanding going up in sandpaper grit until you get to 120 grit.  I stopped at 120 grit because this wooden suncatcher is going to be garden decor it seemed a waste of time.  You can now stain the wood any colour you like, I used a cedar wood stain. 

Create your design

This was my first time trying this, so I wanted to try and keep the design simple. I knew I had a full set of hole saws and spade bits which is all I would need to cut a circle design.  To find a design you like it is a good idea to go onto google and search designs using circles, alternatively you can create your own design.  There were so many designs to choose from, the ones I picked were crop circles. But in hindsight, the small circles were a bad idea, you will see why in the next few steps. Print the design onto paper ready to be transferred onto the wood.

Transferring the design to the wood

There could be a better way to do this step, but because I make my projects up as I go along it was what I came up with at the time. The printed design is placed onto the wood with a sheet of carbon paper between the design and the wood. You can then use a pen to trace over the design, this will leave an imprint of the design on the wood.

Cutting the holes into the wood

I started with the small design first and this is when I realised this design was a bad choice. I started with a drill and drill bit to make the small holes, but the wood was so thick it was time-consuming. 

And the second issue was that the holes in this design were too close together.  They blended into each other which spoilt the look. Try going for designs with larger holes, which also look better with the resin. 

Using spade bits and hole saws

To cut the holes in the large design, I found the spade bits and hole saws worked the best. I used a battery-powered drill but found it did not last long enough to do the job.  I had to wait for the batteries to charge up again. Using an electric-powered drill would be my recommendation so you do not have to wait for the batteries to keep recharging. 

My original design turned out to be a flop, so I made up the design as I went along. Once I had the first half of the design was cut, I used it as a template for the second half.  I used plain paper and put it over the holes, and used a pencil to scribble over the holes with a pencil so I would have the correct spacing.

To transfer the design to the other side of the wood instead of using carbon paper which is time-consuming I tried something else.  I position the paper in the correct position and found a hole saw the correct size as the hole. I put the hole cutter teeth side down on the paper and hit it with a hammer, this left an impression in the wood. This is the guide you use to choose the correct size spade bit or hole saw.

This project already looked great just like this in my opinion, but I stuck to my original idea and added the coloured epoxy Resin.

If you do want to stop here, you will need to add 2 to 3 coats of exterior or marine varnish to protect the suncatcher from the elements. 

Taping the holes

I have used epoxy resin in the past to make some doorknobs and as a surface for my wine barrel table, but never anything like this. So, I was unsure how I was going to keep the epoxy resin in the holes. I jumped onto Google and read the first article I found, which turn out to be a big mistake for me. 

The article recommends using silver duct tape to seal the holes. To get the tape to stick better it recommended you heat up the tape and rub it down hard to seal any gaps.  I followed those instructions and within minutes the resin was running out of duct tape all over the table. I do believe part of the issue was the groove you can see in the wood. 

There are resin proof tapes, but I could not get one in town and our nearest town is 100km away. I went through my husband toolbox and found this aluminium foil tape which worked perfectly. This error also highlighted that I had taped the wrong side of the wood.  You want the resin to be flush with the front. If the resin sits at the back, you will not be able to see it.

To update this section, I have learnt a better way to tape the holes.  Before you add the tape, add a layer of saran wrap over the holes.  This will give you a nice smooth finish and it will also stop the resin from reacting with the tape’s adhesive. 

Mix up the resin

Not all epoxy resins are the same so mix yours according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you are going to be using epoxy resin for other projects, I would highly recommend buying the larger bottles, which work out so much cheaper. Resin can be very temperamental if you do not mix it correctly, I use a small scale to weigh it out accurately.  You will also need to make sure that you stir the resin very well, approximately 2 – 3 minutes scraping the bottom and sides regularly.

I mixed my resin in one batch which was 500ml (Which was far too much 300ml is enough) and then split it up into smaller containers and added 5 drops of colour pigment. I used cheap and cheerful colour pigments which worked great. In hindsight, I should have used glow in the dark pigment I think that would have looked great.

Adding the resin to the suncatcher

For this particular project, the less resin you use the better the effect. You are aiming to pour a layer 1cm deep. Because I had the excess resin, and I did not want to waste it I filled some of the holes. Which was a big mistake, the deeper the resin the less light will shine through. (The middle holes and the bottom holes)

Once you have poured the resin you will notice some bubbles forming on the surface of the resin.  To remove the bubbles, you will need to use a blow torch and just swipe the flame over the resin. I don’t have a blow torch, so I used a creme Brule torch from the kitchen. 

The resin will now need to sit for 24 hours to set. The image below is a close-up view of the back showing the level of resin that worked great. After 24 hours it is time to remove the tape.

Seal the suncatcher.

I did have a few areas where the resin had oozed out of the holes due to the rough wood grain. To fix this you will need to sand it off with and re-stain the wood. I also found once I removed the tape the surface of the resin was sticky.  It looked like the tape adhesive had stayed behind. I used a cloth and some elbow grease to remove the residue from the adhesive on the tape. 

Using the saran wrap I mentioned above will solve this issue. To seal the wood against the weather, you can add 2 coats of exterior or marine varnish to the front and back of the wood.

Make a stand

To make a stand for your suncatcher I would recommend any solid metal post or rebar attached with a ‘U’ Bracket. 

My back garden gets very little sun because of my neighbour’s large trees, but my photos will give you a general idea of how it will look. You will notice the holes in the middle and the bottom doesn’t let the light shine through very well.  This is because I poured the excess resin I had leftover on those holes. I still think this turned out great and the lessons I have learned will help me with my next one.

Update

It has been 4 years since I made this project, and it needed a new coat of stain and varnish.  I have added some new pictures to better show off this project. You can also see in the above image; my neighbour has cut down his huge tree. Yay.

More DIY project ideas for you

Would you believe that this is regular pine wood with a green stain?  But by adding Shou sugi ban (wood Burning) to the mix the surface is amazing.

Don’t throw away all those small scraps of wood turn them into wall art.

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