Nowadays, having a DIY do-it-yourself hobby for girls and women has become not so much fashionable as necessary: a lesson provides an opportunity to relax, develops female energy, and even helps to earn! One of the directions in the vast world of hand-made is decoupage. A master class in this area can be visited in many places, but you can also save by learning how to transform things yourself.
Decoupage. What is it, where is it from, why is it?
The very word “decoupage” is the French verb “cut” (feel the Provencal accent when you say this: decoupage). Now this is a whole fashionable direction of decorating, decorating or decorating objects with beautiful pictures and applications. Covered with varnish after the sticker of beauties cut from paper, things and surfaces are transformed so that their aesthetic value is increased by an order of magnitude.
Despite the foreign roots of the name of this technique, the decoration method itself was born in the east of Siberia, after which it migrated to China, where, catching a fashionable trend, they began to decorate furniture and arrange gifts and make cards with their own hands. They also began to mass-produce blanks for decoupage - paper, colored parts.
Europe met with decoupage as needed: with a great demand for then oriental furniture, local cabinet makers could not provide the entire volume of orders. Therefore, a whole line of production of fakes arose that looked no worse than the original. An imitation of a painting workshop, supposedly carefully painted patterns - this has become fashionable even among famous people of the time, up to Picasso and Madame de Pompadour.
Common Techniques
The most popular ways of decorating evolved in separate directions, and even acquired their adherents. Each is good in its own way and each is suitable for a certain type of objects or surfaces: shabby chic and ethno, Provence and simplicity, Victorian style and the most fashionable - 3D decoupage. A master class of one of the techniques will be given below.
We start decoupage. Choose a surface, select materials
You can decorate and decorate almost anything with a smooth surface and a suitable area for your picture. Of course, when you gain experience, you can try strength in more complex forms of things. And for starters, notebook covers, postcards, furniture, clothes and shoes, vases, flower pots, candles, boxes, part of the walls, the back panel of the gadget are suitable.
The most common and perhaps the simplest material for decoration - these were and still are napkins. Due to the popularity of decoupage, bright, multi-colored napkins, interesting in drawing and design, began to be specially produced. But you can use the rest of paper products: photographs, newspapers, pictures from magazines, calendars, color printouts. Decoupage paper, decoupage cards and wrapping will be optimal. For the style of black and white decoupage fit minimalistic, but bright black prints.
Of the additional materials you will need those that you probably already have at home: scissors, a sponge, toothpicks, a ruler, cotton swabs. Separately, you have to buy glue and acrylic paints, sandpaper and a hair dryer.
Hard in learning - beautiful in the end. Start and win
If hands ask for something to do, and the mind says that it should be useful, then the decoupage technique for beginners is just right. For the first works it is better to choose a not too valuable and memorable thing. Maybe first try on an ordinary plate?
After the materials are prepared, the pictures are selected, and the surface of the future masterpiece is degreased, we proceed directly to the process of decorating using the decoupage technique. The master class has begun.
The most important is priming.
If there is no special primer yet, you can use the simplest white acrylic paint. Then you have to wait until the surface dries, and then apply another 1-3 layers, depending on the surface. This can take several hours, as this first layer is very important. There is a tip for the impatient - use a hairdryer. The primer is not just the initial layer, it is the foundation and base, and it should be as smooth as possible.
Cooking pictures
If this is a napkin (usually they have two or three layers) - then you need to remove the topmost thinnest layer - carefully so that the picture remains intact. If this is a printout or a picture from a magazine, then you need to carefully cut the image with small scissors. It happens that for stylization and an additional effect, the pictures are deliberately cut out not quite neatly or tear out separate pieces along the edge - a wet brush is used for this, which is drawn along the outline of the picture.
So, the primer has dried and the surface is perfect for gluing. Now you can stick the picture. Professional craftsmen who are engaged in this use a special varnish or a transparent gel from acrylic on a water basis. At the initial stage, it is possible to use a composition more accessible in all senses - PVA glue diluted with water . The consistency of such a mixture should be like that of liquid yogurt, and it must also be shaken before use in order to avoid heterogeneity, which will prevent smooth application of an already fragile picture.
Gluing a picture is the most difficult thing in decoupage, because it must be done carefully so as not to tear or wrinkle the image. To fix the picture on the plane of the object, you can use glue stick, having previously smeared the surface, and only then attach the picture. Another way is to put the image on the surface prepared by the primer, and only then, after applying glue exactly in the middle, gently distribute it throughout the rest of the picture.
If you use diluted PVA, you will need a certain speed, because it dries quite quickly. You can do this: dip the brush first in water, and then in glue. Be careful not to get bubbles. If air ingress could not be avoided, then with the rubber roller or fingers drive out the bubbles from under the picture. Apply several coats of glue / varnish, using a hairdryer for speed. Excess glue draining around the edges should be cleaned with a damp sponge or cloth.
So, the picture is covered, and the layers of varnish have dried. Now you need to bring the creation to mind. To make the object look harmonious, you can add a shade to the background using acrylic paints. Try to apply the thinnest layer to avoid future cracking. If you want to show the world an allegedly ancient thing, then use special compositions. For example, our decoupage plate, the photo of which is presented below, is additionally coated with a layer of craquelure varnish.
The more layers of varnish the surface protects, the better - professionals can cover their product with several dozen layers, but for beginners, 2 to 6 are suitable.
Additional tools and materials
Masters who have reached heights in decoupage use many additional tools to give special effects to their products. This may be the previously mentioned craquelure varnish, various enamels, bitumen, face varnish, resin - for “aging”. For additional volume, structural bulk adhesives, gels, silicones are used. Wax paste, silver and gold, patina - do not count the means of additional decor!
Nuances
If you love decoupage, the master class turned out to be useful to you, and you would like to continue creating unusual, original items, then read a few more tips:
• Varnish can also be found in a hardware store - parquet, acrylic, furniture.
• Carefully choose brushes - they should not leave loose hairs and stripes on the surface.
• For items to be used in water, a waterproof varnish is required.
• To prevent the printed photocopy from spreading, dilute the PVA and apply it in two layers on the picture.
• It is better to hold pictures from magazines in water or spray water on them from above to remove the upper thin layer.
• To prevent the picture from getting lost, do not use a dark background.
• When objects (vases, plates, glasses) made of dark glass are decorated, it is possible to glue a white background under the picture, painting it with white.
• Do not be afraid of experiments, because it is personal experience that helps you find new ideas and solutions that help you get your own style.
So, as our MK has shown, decoupage is not such a difficult process, and through trial, experiment, using inspiration and imagination, you can create a real masterpiece that will decorate your home, become a wonderful gift to friends or, perhaps, a welcome acquisition of some connoisseur beautiful.