Try These Decoupage Projects and Ideas

Your decoupage projects are fun and and challenging for sure. But before we get into decoupage ideas, lets cover some history for beginners.

Decoupage is simply cutting out pictures and pasting them on furniture or home accessories to simulate painting and decorating. Decoupage is an easy art and produces delightful results that you will want to create wonderful new projects. This was referred as poor man's art because in the olden days those who couldn't afford to hire an artist to decorate their furniture could elegantly decorate it with cutouts pasted on and covered with multiple coats of varnish.

Decoupage was popular in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries and many decorations on boxes, trays, chests and tables were found to be mere cut outs cleverly pasted by a crafty artist.

How to decoupage?
There are three ways of getting started on your decoupage projects.
Montage is a mounting of materials that may or may not be cutouts.
Photographs, travel folders, handbills or old postcards might be artistically arranged on a screen or mural and varnished.
In collage, various items such as bits of string, wood, shells or romantic keepsakes are used in a shadow box arrangement.

Decoupage Instructions

Material
Materials for decoupage projects can be found just about everywhere in art stores, thrift, antique shops, bookstores, attics, auctions and garage sales. The tools required are -few-scissors, X-Acto knives, razor blades, pencils, paste, glue, varnish, turpentine, lacquer, thinner, oil paints, brushes, sandpaper, and a sheet of glass are about all that are -required. For making shadow box arrangements; beads, sequins, shells, feathers, fans are required.

When cutting out designs from decorative papers the scissors should be tilted slightly towards the right to obtain a beveled edge. When pasting, lay the work on a large sheet of glass or on a marble topped table. Paste smoothly, working from the center to the edges. A rolling pin may be used to smooth after pasting. Always keep a damp cloth handy to press down the edges and to wipe off excess paste. The type of finish the article needs depend upon the use. The more the article is lacquered, the more it will recede into the background and simulate painting.

Lacquer, is easy to use and effective on large objects. When planning a design for a large area make a rough sketch on tracing paper, indicating where the cutouts will be pasted. The actual cutouts should be tried in different arrangements until the best one is found. The cutouts are then pasted on the object.

Some ideas to start Decoupage projects
Fabric, Lamp, Lampshade, Arts and Craft, Trays, Plate, Bowl, Glass Vase, Hatboxes, Stamp Box, Book Boxes, Matchbox Chests, Planters, Garden Pots, Moldings, Wall Mural, Desk Tabletops, Drawer Fronts, Child's Chair, Furniture, Cabinet, Tile Mirror, Baskets, Block Tabletop Puzzles, Stone Tiles, Pendulum Clocks, Glass Tiles, Wine Glasses, Wall hangings, Toilet Seat!

Decoupage projects can be as expensive or inexpensive hobbies as you wish. Either way, no hobby will bring as many hours of pleasure or more compliments on your finished work as this old-time art.

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Decoupage Supplies

Decoupage Paper

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