There are few things that make us happy as much as receiving or giving someone a beautifully decorated object, especially if this gift was made by our own hands. As it turns out, more and more people decide to make their own various decorations, and decoupage as a hobby is gaining popularity. What should you know before starting the adventure with a new activity?
Decoupage is a decorative technique that consists in decorating a surface with patterns cut out of thin paper – usually a napkin or rice paper. One of the biggest advantages of this not easy craft is the fact that you can decorate products made of almost any material. Both wood and metal, plastic, glass or ceramics can be used as materials. Well done work will be recognized by the fact that the end result will be deceptively similar to a painted picture. If this short description sounds encouraging, then perhaps decoupage is an activity just for you!
At the very beginning you have to reckon with the need to purchase appropriate equipment. It’s worth remembering not to buy expensive tools right away – the simpler (and cheaper) ones should definitely suffice to determine whether you really feel good in this technique, which requires considerable manual skills. When it comes to the surface, a great choice for beginners will be objects made of raw wood, which can be prepared for decorating in no time, such as a simple cup pad or cutting board. Equipment for every amateur modeler must also include a set of acrylic paints (preferably in a light color), a special glue for decoupage, water varnish, flat brushes with synthetic bristles and the absolute must have, which are napkins with intriguing and unobvious patterns. The cost of a full set of equipment should not be more than a hundred zlotys.
Once we are in possession of all the necessary tools, we can confidently proceed to the next stage – the decoupage itself. Performing a simple decoration, although it does not require extraordinary skills or talent, but certainly many times will put our patience to the test. So let’s not venture into complicated techniques at the initial stage of our adventure with decoupage. This way not only will we not achieve the desired results, but we can also quickly get discouraged with the newly started hobby.
The next step after choosing the object is proper preparation of the surface for the decoration process. For this purpose, it should be smoothed with sandpaper, and then covered with acrylic paint. Next, our attention should be focused on the paper element with which we intend to decorate the item. Cut out the pattern corresponding to the shape of the decorated item. If the choice fell on the napkin, we must remember to separate it beforehand until our hands remain only a thin layer containing the motif of interest. Then apply it to the prepared surface, and on the whole apply a thin layer of glue with a brush. After it dries on the object is worth to apply a few more layers of varnish – so that the edges of the napkin will not be felt under your fingers, and the chosen pattern will be deceptively similar to the painted picture. At the very end there is nothing else to do but admire the resulting work of art.
Decoupage decorations give almost unlimited possibilities, and the web is full of increasingly sophisticated methods of decorating various objects. The most important thing is to grasp the basics as soon as possible, and the rest – as it happens in art – depends on us and our ideas. Simplicity and an extremely wide range of possibilities, combined with low costs, will make both beginners and people for whom manual work is the daily bread find themselves in this increasingly common technique.
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