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Furniture & tables • Custom furniture

Cottonwood, a dark river, and crystal clarity

Natural cottonwood edges frame a dark resin river with exceptional visual clarity and a reflective finished surface.

Documented November 2020From the workshop
PART OF A LARGER COLLECTIONObjects in wood & resin →

I kept the live edge

I could have squared off the cottonwood before the pour, but that would have removed the part I liked. I kept the uneven edges and poured the resin between them, so the wood set the path of the river.

Dark resin that still stayed clear

I tinted the epoxy dark, but it still cured clear instead of cloudy. After the top was sanded and oiled, the outdoor photos picked up a lot of reflection in both the resin and the wood.

Who did what

I made and finished the tabletop. Motor City Slabs supplied the cottonwood, and Hudson Industrial was credited in the original post for the planned custom legs. The photos here show the top before those legs were added.

My work on the tabletop

I made and finished the tabletop using cottonwood, dark-tinted epoxy, and an oil finish. I kept the natural edges because they gave the river a better path than a straight cut would have. The resin cured dark but clear, which is why the outdoor photos show so much depth and reflection. Motor City Slabs supplied the wood, and Hudson Industrial was credited for the planned custom legs. The photos here stop before those legs were added.

Credits & project notes

Tabletop fabrication and finish: Michael Pytlowany. Lumber: Motor City Slabs. Planned custom legs: Hudson Industrial.

Photographs document the finished tabletop before the planned custom legs. No later assembly is implied.

Sources

Mike's Functional Artistry project archive
10 November 2020

Michael Pytlowany, project details supplied for this portfolio
8 September 2026