Recycled Newspaper Composite Tray

This project originated from a fortuitous accident when paper pulp was accidentally mixed with resin, resulting in a solid material. I decided to slightly modify the technique and create a small tray out of a silicon mold I had on hand. Using paper and clear epoxy resin, I made a small tray that holds common tabletop items, such as stationary. I hope you will read to the end.

• Paper (preferably newspaper or any soft paper)
• Bucket
• Hammer (or a brick)
• Clear epoxy resin
• Silicon mold
• Cup for mixing resin
• Gloves

Shred the paper into pieces of about 4x2cm (the smaller the better) and wet it in a bucket of water. Let the paper soak for a while (about a minute or whenever you are done shredding) and take it out. Hammer the paper until the text become indistinguishable and pull it into small pieces. The paper should look similar to the second image. Spread the paper pulp out on a flat area and set it to dry.

Rewet the paper pulp, which should turn softer and mix two part epoxy resin. Cover the paper with a piece of cloth and wring the water out as much as possible, then add it to the resin. There should be about a 3:2 ratio between paper and resin. While wearing gloves, massage the paper in the resin until it seemingly combines into a thick paste and smear the paste into the mold. If there are excessive areas without anything in the mold, you could fill it in with clear epoxy resin. Scrape the top of the mold with a flat object to remove any bits sticking out and leave the mold to dry for about 48 hours (time may vary depending on the brand of resin you are using).

Remove air bubbles by mixing another batch of the same resin and paint the resin over the mold with a brush, be sure to paint into the bubbles. Then scrape the excess paint off and set the piece to dry for another 48 hours. And there you have it, a paper composite tray!