Lynne walks you through every single step — from casting and dry brushing to layout, glazing, and the finishing gold accents that make this tray so stunning.

IOD Products:

🎨 IOD Cornucopias Mould

🎨 IOD Sunflowers Mould

🎨 IOD Toadstools Mould

🎨 IOD Hello Pumpkin Mould (Retired)

🎨 IOD Victoria Mould (Retired)

🎨 IOD Moulds of your choice! Think harvest-inspired elements like pumpkins, mushrooms, botanicals, and vegetables.

Additional Supplies

✨ Black quick-set resin (equal parts A and B)

✨ Wooden tray (stained)

✨ Chalk-style paint in your chosen autumn palette

✨ Black heavy-body gel adhesive

✨ Spray matte varnish

✨ Dark glaze

✨ Gold paint (for dry brush accents)

✨ Small paintbrushes

✨ Damp paper towels or baby wipes

This project starts with black quick-set resin, which produces beautiful resin moulds. Combine equal parts A and B according to your manufacturer's instructions, mix thoroughly, and pour into your IOD Moulds one at a time.

A tip from Lynne that we love: cast more pieces than you think you need. Having extra castings gives you so much more flexibility when it comes to arranging your final layout, and you can always save leftover resin by casting letters or small elements to tuck away for future projects. Nothing goes to waste. 🙌

Using a small brush and chalk-style paint, Lynne lightly dry brushes over each black resin casting, letting the paint catch the raised details while the recessed areas stay beautifully dark. That exposed black resin in the crevices acts as a natural shadow, creating incredible depth and dimension without any complicated technique.

The key is to let each paint layer dry completely before adding the next. Rushing this step flattens the effect, and this effect is too gorgeous to flatten. 💕

One of the most useful things Lynne shares in this tutorial is how to keep a multi-element project from looking busy or overwhelming. The answer is beautifully simple: limit yourself to a small, intentional color palette and carry those same colors across every single element.

Warm autumnal tones- think burnt orange, deep red, ochre, and soft gold- run through every casting on this tray. And where elements meet, Lynne overlaps colors to blend them together seamlessly. A touch of pumpkin orange over a red mushroom cap, for example, pulls the two elements into the same visual family. The result feels beautifully curated rather than chaotic. 🙌

Before a single drop of adhesive touches anything, always dry arrange them first. 🤭

Lynne lays out all her finished castings around the perimeter of the stained wooden tray, balancing light and dark colors as she goes. This planning step lets you see the full composition and move things around freely before you commit. Once you're happy with the layout, secure everything in place using black heavy-body gel adhesive.

The black adhesive is a deliberate choice. It disappears into the dark castings and keeps the whole piece looking polished and purposeful. A small but smart detail. 💕

This is the step that pulls everything together. A few techniques are happening here that are worth paying close attention to.

💕 Spatter for texture. Using a small brush, spatter black and white paint lightly across the surface of the tray. It adds visual texture and movement that makes the whole piece feel more organic and alive.

💕 Seal before you glaze. Apply a spray matte varnish over the entire project before the glaze goes on. This is a brilliant move, as the varnish creates a barrier that prevents the glaze from absorbing directly into the paint or stained wood, which means you can manipulate it freely and wipe it back exactly where you want it.

💕 Glaze to unify. Apply a dark glaze over all the elements and wipe away the excess with a damp paper towel or baby wipe. This single step unifies every piece on the tray and makes it feel like they belong together.

Lynne dry brushes small accents of gold paint along the edges and scroll details of the castings, replicating that warm, amber glow of autumn sunlight. It is subtle and elevated, and it ties the whole harvest palette together.

Step back, admire your work, and try not to immediately start planning your next one. 😅

Ready to make your own Autumn Harvest Tray? Find your nearest IOD Stockist using the big red Where to Buy button on our website and get your hands on the IOD Moulds that speak to you. 🙌

New to IOD? Our Product 101 pages are packed with beginner-friendly techniques to help you get the most out of every product. And for more how-tos and seasonal project inspo, there is so much good stuff waiting for you in the rest of our blog. 💕

Made your own harvest tray? Please share it with the IOD Creative Tribe on Facebook. We might be biased, but it is the most supportive community of makers on the internet. We genuinely love to see what you create.