DIY Epoxy Wood Collectible Floating Shelves

Planer (optional)
Pattern (optional)
Oak (or any kind of your choosing)
Drill
Clamps
Biscuit Joiner
Biscuits (not the bread kind the wood kind to fill the holes left by the joiner lol)
Wood glue
Mallet
Pencil
Level
Tape measure
Magnet or stud finder
Epoxy
Epoxy dye
Stir stick
Epoxy mix cup
Stir stick to mix epoxy on project for designs
Finishing lacquer ( we used tung oil)
Rags
Gloves
Masks
Saftey glasses
Router with bits
Ikea floating shelving brackets
Screws
Pop Vinyls (or your Collectible of choosing)

We had some old oak in the garage, so we planned it down and cut it to the size we needed. It wasn't wide enough, so we had to use the biscuit Joiner to put two boards together to make one shelf. *Tip* if you lay the boards flat like they would appear as a shelf and take a pencil and mark across both boards in five-ish spots, when you separate them to use the biscuit Joiner you will have equal marks on both boards. Making it easy to know where to place your biscuits! We then used wood glue and biscuits to connect the two boards together. We tapped it with the mallet for good measure and clamped it so it could dry. You need to put clamps on both sides of the shelf so you don't accidentally put a bend in the shelf. This needs to be level. Cleanup any squeezed out glue and let dry overnight. We did this for both large shelves. The smaller shelf was just cut down to size. Then we did a quick sand on everything.

We traced patterns onto each board and then used the router to carve them out. We needed each one deep enough to hold about an 8th of an inch of epoxy.

We mixed Marine grade epoxy resin (cause that's what we had leftover) and mixed in some powder dyes. We used an ocean blue, black, and a dark blue. We then mixed in some pearl white. We used the back of an old paint brush to swirl in the white, trying not completely mix things in. We let those cure over the next few days. Once they we're dry, we sanded down all the extra epoxy so only our designs were filled with epoxy. Keep checking to make sure your boards are level. Don't sand too much extra and make things uneven. This is also another good time to test fit your floating shelf arms.

Wipe down your shelves so that there isn't any dust left over. If your epoxy looks a little cloudy and messed up, that's ok. We used a tung oil finish on our shelves for our polished look. Any clear coat finish will brighten up your epoxy and get rid of a few scratches from sanding. It may even take more than one coat. Let that dry (especially between multiple coats) and when it's done attach the floating shelf brackets. Ours from Ikea had a spot on the bottom side to secure with a screw (along with the traditional ones for the wall.)

Make sure to get some help to hang your shelves. Use a stud finder (or magnet - See our trick in our other instructable...https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Floating-Live-Edge-Epoxy-Filled-Desk/) and a level to hang these shelves where you would like them. Then fill with your Collectibles and enjoy! Let is know if you make these, we'd love to see what designs you come up with!