Making Wooden Dyed Epoxy Coasters and for Art.

I am making most likely a combo of Balsa wood or engineered wood with different combos of wood with easily accessible dyes. I have many unique dyes but want to keep it fairly simple. You can use soap dyes, rit dyes and probably food colouring if you want a cheaper method.

The soap dyes are here on Amazon.ca for 21 dollars. The rit dyes can cost 20-30 dollars each. The epoxy cost around 20-40 dollars and the boards can cost 12 dollars for 12 boards (3 inch by 3 inch wood).

So just with the Soap dye and boards with epoxy including a lamp may cost 113 Canadian dollars to keep it simple. It gets much more expensive if you start using rit dyes since each dye could cost 30 dollars each but it is very easy to do if you have the time and the money.

In fact over half a year i spent 140 dollars on Rit dyes for paintings and it was not cheap for 7 dyes (Ebay and Etsy) then amazon.

You can add a small amount to the wood and then apply epoxy. We allow the dye Soap dye (5 hrs) and rit dyes (12 hrs) to completely dry before applying the epoxy part A and hardner.

We need epoxy resin hardener 86 easily found on Amazon i will share a link too, and soap dyes and different rit dyes.

• Rit dye Navy blue, Rit black, Rit Charcoal grey, Rit golden yellow, Rit lemon yellow, Rit scarlet red, Red purple.
• For soap dyes (as a kit) you get 36 dyes each 10 ml for dye.
• Wooden boards 3 by 3 inches most likely Balsa or a combo of softer wood.
• UV disinfectant lamp to cure epoxy.
• A stand Lab stand with a clamp to hold the UV lamp.
• A shield to block the UV light. This is very important since this UV is very dangerous.
• Plastic cups for epoxy making with measurements (See link below).

includes....

Tripar 4-Inch Metal Gold Plated Square Book Holder/Stand

Or

Wooden 3-4 inch stands (May not be available on Amazon anymore).

Soap dyes..

https://www.amazon.ca/Colors-Colorants-Colorant-Handmade-Supplies/dp/B07QK79C5V/ref=sr_1_33?crid=3VVYEMLKGRF1S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wyIqIQl1ULBG3Zx0ksAART122NShpHLpF420Gwg6-zWH4tr-SWEGQDDguYXTHqSlKh_zrxEtXsKbS_qy8sUHIKAkfZ9b3cfsHejs39WFaoz1tRxYIhVemEguuKTYEFeiPWOmBPSUiNGqqS_dfHJ2OxkbYlf9HfNSuqKh-XL2JvRVN_LTt7cR6chQhfztamHnPOwEUbcjRsSARKavti_ie5EinCnsDbAfuJ7kavwLg_TgMxuxAq-yf0RaxvFbh-xRPvUXLC2Qm0Rwa9dH5FO_n_NNBHP8KvPNjvXnU3e1yEI.1WHZZfHH8ZoJcWKbF5WXDkcvbshtCHuokv7HHtk49kI&dib_tag=se&keywords=soap+dyes&qid=1715327741&sprefix=soap+dyes%2Caps%2C307&sr=8-33

Rit dye examples

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=Rit+dyes+liquid&crid=2Z5TIE5X79804&sprefix=rit+dyes+liquid%2Caps%2C113&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Link for epoxy and clamps and the wood.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09J3QL4YB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

https://www.amazon.ca/Crystal-Casting-Jewelry-Countertop-Yellowing/dp/B0BW3P12Z7/ref=dealz_related_t1_d_sccl_3_6/145-1065536-7112319?pd_rd_w=iIS22&content-id=amzn1.sym.9fbef7bb-b59b-4e88-88fc-279c83d4378e&pf_rd_p=9fbef7bb-b59b-4e88-88fc-279c83d4378e&pf_rd_r=4TH7H2XVAYHT7XCGCKY2&pd_rd_wg=LIlTC&pd_rd_r=3330faaf-8086-44ec-986d-c18c320c319d&pd_rd_i=B0BW3P12Z7&th=1

Plastic cups for epoxy.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08Y97DWDK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

UV lamp.

https://www.amazon.ca/SUYOOULIN-Quartz-Lights-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B09RFWVMRH/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hF8MrzjZf6Dzy6IaSjWBspVFsWgWfhB8FX5QXSBNdA1mtkEbic3NbsgSMzETVlHx1oUfTcB0OngtusGz1xedv7OQQDMMNi9CQVSHS9wmINgY1nQoN_8m4Ueoq5gKveOKhY7w50lSXZY5DkjSRN_8NWc2RJyAA8EHNbBKkXo1Vi4Ix5ENStA7lwnONN3NATF8wekOVxVmqvTya2bv_eY6GIVsG5VxXCjuahGj6BtgGvJNnWy-CKkB7hQvTGwONl7H43Z1Am3GkMbvl8r5In6aGVgZiWSYRfPV8RIKCZwPVWM.OPbNhdtuD4wXORsYUGje4R4oGYseUBzLs3RdukTkLnk&dib_tag=se&keywords=uv%2Bdisinfection%2Blamp%2Bfor%2Broom%2B254%2Bnm&qid=1715402063&sr=8-6&th=1

You may want an more expensive UV lamp like this but that is Optional and a normal 40 dollar UV lamp will work well.

Also I think the Ozone reacts with the polymers in the epoxy resin to help cure it with the 254 nm wavelength so if you do want an more expensive lamp make sure it produces ozone and has a wavelength of 254 nm. You may need to shop elsewhere than amazon.

Warning some of the dyes are toxic like the rit dyes and even the soap dyes are harmful if ingested but other than that there is a low risk. Always wear PPE. Also epoxy is dangerous even with the safer types. I recommend gloves when working with epoxy and eye safety you don't want epoxy curing into your eyes even with small amounts.

The UV lamp is dangerous for your eyes and skin wear PPE and use a shield to block the UV. Acrylic or wood will do nicely.

For the soap dyes we have 36 different dyes each 10 ml of dye. We just add a small amount of the dye to the wood and use a pop stick or pipette to move the dye around the wood. I would recommend a plastic pipette since it avoids absorbing the dye with it.

For example, you could mix some soap dye blue with soap dye red with the pipette.

Another method is the bubble-wrap method of adding soap dyes to the soap dye. Wear gloves. I recommend it and apply the soap dye (any of the colors you want) and apply the bubble wrap method. Dabbing the dye on the wood and letting it dry for at least 5 hours.

Well we add 10 ml by volume of Epoxy resin part A and mix 10 ml of the hardener. We have a few hours until it starts to harden so mix them fast. I recommend using gloves disposable ones each time and mixing the resin while wearing PPE and adding the resin to the soap dyes.

We apply the epoxy with a pop stick and slab it on the wood. This is the Pop stick method.

Note the dye must be completely dry for the Soap dyes I recommend 10 hrs min for it to dry Before adding the epoxy. It takes this type of epoxy 16 to 24 hrs to cure (Even with the UV lamp) being turned on and off for 2 hrs.

Warning: Ozone will be produced it is Irritating but not dangerous the real danger is the UV!

A notice that Rit dyes that are pre-made (Salt, dye, water) can be added fresh and pipetted on the wooden board or diluted. I haven't worked with the diluted method that much but a 1:1 ratio (Rit dye to water) will work nicely. You can blot dry or bubble wrap this dye just like the soap dye.

Keep in mind i strongly recommend that you allow the dye to dry for 20 hours before adding the epoxy. Otherwise the epoxy may transfer the dye to one wooden board to another.

This happened once in the next step i will show that result if i would have waited a few more hours (3+) this could have been minimised.

Altho you can order the Rit pre mix and add the water itself it may be a lot easier to just buy the Rit dyes.

There are no pictures for this step. We are just adding the rit dye to the wood sometimes bubble wrap method of the dye was used and the dye was allowed to dry for 20+ hours. Then 10 ml of epoxy resin A was added in a measuring cup to hardener part B and stirred very quickly.

If the dye is not dry under 20 hours then the dye may be transferred onto one board to another. You can avoid this entirely by waiting 20 hrs for the Rit dye.

With gloves and PPE (strongly recommended) i wore a face-shield I applied the resin when mixed with a pop stick to the wooden board.

UV light for 2 hours for a total of 4 Hours was used and again the ozone although after a hour or two is quite annoying it the UV light at 254 nm that is most dangerous to your health.

This is a neat project that I did and you can do to. The epoxy that takes 36 to 48 hrs to dry normally at a relative humidity of 40-50% worked quite well.I test them with cold drinks and hot drinks there were no deterioration of the epoxy at any point.

Thanks for reading this simple Instructable.

SHOE0007.