Decoupage for beginners: technical features and master classes

To understand how diverse decoupage is, let's talk about decorating objects made from different materials and about surfaces that cannot be called objects - walls, floor, ceiling, windows, doors. Everything that our imagination touches can be suitable for decorating with decoupage technique.

Let's try to answer the question. Translated from French, decoupage means "cut". Indeed, the technique of such decoration is cutting out pictures and sticking them onto an object, in other words, an applique. An occupation that has been familiar to us since kindergarten. But the result is completely childish. The decoupage technique allows you to achieve an amazing effect. In addition, it has many advantages.

• You can update old furniture, various gizmos that could only be thrown away. But they got a new life and became a worthy decoration of the interior.
• Decoupage materials are inexpensive.
• Pictures for appliqués can be borrowed from posters, calendars, colored napkins, newspaper and magazine clippings. Patterns from wallpaper and fabric options are suitable.
• Everything you need for decorating can be easily purchased at handicraft stores or online stores. There you can also find ready-made pictures on rice paper or on cards for decoupage.
• Doing the work with your own hands, you get a lot of pleasure from the process and the results of labor.

Before you start decorating with appliques, you should thoroughly prepare.Having an item to rework and a picture you like is only part of the story. To connect them, you will need a number of materials and auxiliary tools:

1. acrylic or gypsum primer for preparatory work;
2. sandpaper for grouting the surface;
3. acetone, with which the material is degreased;
4. acrylic paint, it forms the background of the decor;
5. brushes, a sponge for shading paint;
6. the picture from which the applique is cut;
7. a basin of water in which the picture is soaked;
8. varnish for finishing works.

Having discovered decoupage, many enthusiastically immerse themselves in work, not even suspecting that there are quite a few basic techniques (types of execution techniques). Having this information in advance, you can understand which materials are suitable for certain techniques, how to enhance the effectiveness of the decor.

The most popular technique for decorating things with pictures. The drawing, cut from paper, napkins, fabric, tulle, is applied with glue to the outside of the item. Then it is fixed with varnish. This method can be used to decorate everything: household items, furniture, walls, floors, ceilings, doors. It is suitable for any material.

In this case, the drawing is applied to the inside of the object. This method is suitable for transparent structures (glass, plastic). If we consider a glass plate as an example, the picture is glued not from the front, but from the back, it will be visible through the glass.

This technique involves the creation of a structural surface on which the picture is then glued. The thing decorated with the help of volumetric decoupage looks realistic. The effect is achieved in different ways. You can buy 5 or 6 of the same images, cut them into pieces and just lift the pattern by sticking the elements of the pictures on top of each other. But one should not be too zealous, the extra volume destroys the perception of reality.

This method allows you to combine the drawing with the background, erasing the boundaries between them and turning the artistic image of the product into a single whole. Outwardly, the image looks like a real painting by the artist. Before drawing, the surface is primed and painted in a color close to it. After pasting the picture, they retouch with a sponge, removing the borders, and then paint on and complement the picture with a brush and paints.

It is considered a kind of decoupage. Reminiscent of the creativity of a patchwork (patchwork quilt), when the surface is assembled from many small patches. In the deco-patch technique, the drawings are cut or torn into pieces, the surface is freely pasted over, filling the entire object with them completely.

Decoupage is a simple and inexpensive opportunity to turn an old thing into a new and stylish one. The fundamentals of the technique are laid in the exact observance of the stages that must be followed in the process of work: surface cleaning, priming, painting, gluing a picture, varnishing. We will consider the decoupage technique in more detail in the chapter "Master classes". Now let's talk about what secrets have been accumulated by masters over the years of decorating practice.

• The decoupage item in the room must match the interior design. For this, the picture and the color of the paints of the future decor are carefully selected.
• In the last step of the varnishing process, some of the paints may run out. Therefore, you need to choose materials that are resistant to solvents. Pictures with a glossy surface will work well; inkjet will be less successful. To secure the drawing made on the printer, it is covered with hairspray.
• In some cases, toilet paper is used to create volume - it forms folds well.
• To give the picture the image of antiquity, it is soaked in a decoction of onion peel or tea. She takes on an aged, yellowed "from time" appearance.
• When working with dishes, it is better to use special heat-resistant varnishes, for example, Hobby Line. In such dishes you can cook in the oven or use it in the microwave.

In order to give your work a special, unusual look, there are various additional techniques. Here are the most common ones.

Potal is the thinnest metallic film of golden or silver hue. She is covering the subject as backgroundlike gold leaf, and then apply an applique. Sometimes gold leaf is used to create decorative fragments.

The special varnish, when combined with the paint, helps to dry cracking it, giving the subject an antique look.

Over time, oxidative processes occur on non-ferrous metal products, and greenish brown bloom. The imitation of this process is called patina. With the help of a certain technique, realistic coloring of objects of any structure, completely far from metal, is achieved.

When the choice of the subject of decoupage and the picture has already been made, they proceed to the technique of execution itself. Consider step by step decorating with applications - the so-called direct decoupage, which any novice master can do with his own hands.

1. If furniture is selected, old paint is removed from it and the surface is well cleaned. If you have to work with a smooth material, it is treated with an alcohol-containing liquid to degrease.
2. Several layers of plaster or acrylic primer are applied. Each layer is well dried.
3. The primed surface should be sanded with fine-grained emery paper, achieving perfect smoothness.
4. Next, paint the object with acrylic paint using a wide soft brush. Sometimes, instead of a brush, a piece of foam rubber is used, applying the first layer of white acrylic paint with an extinguishing motion. Give time to dry. The second layer of staining should be tinted, coincide with the background of the picture. Sometimes, to enhance the concentration of color on the first coating, instead of white, a background paint is also used.
5. It's time to work on the picture. It can be anything (magazine clipping, photograph, printer printout, napkin). The picture is cut out and soaked for twenty seconds in water, then with a careful movement, remove the excess paper, leaving only the drawing. If a napkin is chosen for decoupage, it is peeled off, leaving only the paint layer.
6. The drawing is carefully planted on glue and smoothed with a soft brush from the center to the edges. If PVA glue is used, it is diluted with water. Thus, small drawings or fragments of them are glued. The large image is first laid out on cellophane film, carefully smoothed with a damp swab. Then, press against the glue surface and remove the cellophane. Allow to dry out.
7. If you wish, you can finalize the drawing by finishing and touching up the image with paints.Then the painted, pasted over and dried decoupage object is covered with acrylic varnish. It is applied in an amount of two to five layers, each of which is dried before applying the next one.

We offer another master class on the use of eggshells using the decoupage technique. Let's consider its application in decor by the example of a wall composition, enclosed in a frame. For work, you will need a cardboard base, a frame, eggshells, paints, glue, a picture and varnish. The workflow includes a number of steps.

• Collect and prepare the eggshell. To do this, rinse it well, remove the inner film, dry it.
• The finished shell is broken into small particles of approximately the same size.
• Prepare the cardboard base. It should be cut to fit the frame.
• On cardboard, using PVA glue, the shell is glued - painstakingly, fragment by fragment. There should be a distance of 1-2 mm between each particle. The shell is trimmed with a needle. As a result, she must close the entire canvas.
• Eggshells glued to the cardboard will look multi-colored. Level the background with white acrylic paint. It is better to dilute the thick composition with water. The applied paint should not seal the gaps between the shell fragments, because we are trying to achieve a textured surface.
• When the base is dry and completely ready, they begin to work with the picture. Cut out a drawing from a napkin, exfoliate it, leaving only a colored layer. Then they are glued to the prepared base.
• The surface is varnished and allowed to dry.
• The finished decor is framed and hung on the wall.

Plastic is the brainchild of technical progress, it always looks like an unnatural material. But there is a unique opportunity to change the plastic surface beyond recognition with your own hands. If it is covered with gypsum soil, a picture and varnish, the thing will acquire a sculptural appearance, it may look like a ceramic product. Or the surface is pasted over in the style of decopatch, then the decoupage object changes its cold structure to a warm paper or fabric one, becomes colorful and cheerful. Let's consider in detail how the transformation takes place.

• The surface is washed, wiped dry and degreased with alcohol.
• A primer is applied, and then several coats of tonal paint. Drying follows after each action. Plastic can be painted without a primer. A very simple option is not to paint the surface, leave it as it is. It all depends on the master's intention.
• The drawing is cut out and layered.
• The wet picture is placed on a decoupage item, gently smoothed with a brush.
• You can glue on the surface of the image, it will be impregnated and fixed well.

Decoupage on wood (plywood, board, chipboard) is not much different from working with other types of materials. The only exception can be old painted furniture. Before decorating it with appliques, you need to remove the existing layer of paint, and then using coarse sandpaper or a grinder, smooth the surface well until smooth. Polished furniture is cleaned to remove the shine.

Old, dry objects may have scratches and cracks, they should be covered with putty, and then the surface should be primed.It is much easier to prepare new items for decoration, for example, simple furniture purchased from IKEA or a wooden cutting board without a pattern.

When the primer is dry, paint the wood surface. It is not necessary to cut a picture (for example, a flower) from a napkin or rice paper, it can be carefully torn off, then the uneven edges will blend in more naturally and merge with the painted wood surface. With the help of a sponge, the borders of the picture can be processed, retouched.

Each wet layer (putty, primer, paint) must dry before applying the next composition. The final action in the decoupage technique will be varnishing the surface.

Any metal product (aluminum, stainless steel, non-ferrous metal) lends itself to decoupage, you just need to prepare it correctly. To do this, we perform several actions.

• If there is rust on the item, it must be removed.
• Sand the product, achieve full smoothness.
• Then degrease with acetone.
• At the next stage, the surface is primed using a special primer for metal.
• If a samovar, lamp, kettle and other heating objects are decorated, it is necessary to use only heat-resistant varnishes and paints in the work.
• The drawing can be glued to the varnish, and covered with another layer on top. For working with metal, it is better to use alkyd-urethane varnishes. They do not bleed, but they can give a yellow tint. Vintage styles will benefit from this. If the shade is not needed, the product should be covered with one layer of varnish.

Decoupage technique is not often found on walls, but nevertheless it is used and it looks great. It is better to resort to decorating the walls with appliqués in small rooms. You don't have to work on all surfaces. If the room is spacious, one wall should be decorated.

When applying decoupage, you need to take into account the general style of the interior.... For minimalism, black and white variations are suitable, you can use photographs. Delicate pastel tones of pictures are applicable for Provence, Shabby Chic directions. Bright posters can be introduced into teenage design. For all directions, country chooses plots of plants, animals and folk ornaments.

The decoupage technique is started when the surface of the walls is leveled, ideally primed and painted. The color of the picture should match the shade of the surface. Before drawing a drawing on a plane, make calculations and markings of places where applications will be determined.

The mark is covered with a small amount of glue, a picture is applied and gently pressed. With a damp brush, smooth the pattern from the center to the edges, removing bubbles and excess glue.

When working with a multifaceted composition, large fragments are applied first, and then small ones. All elements are glued with an overlap. After drying, the work is covered with varnish several times locally (only in the places of application).

A cardboard shoebox prepared for discard can become an original decorative item and a useful box for small things. To transform it, you need to choose pictures that match the color and style of the interior, prepare a primer, glue, varnish, paints - and get down to business.

Before you start decorating, you should reinforce the corners of the box with masking tape. The entire product is covered with an even layer of acrylic primer and dried. Then rub the surface with fine emery paper until it is completely leveled. The box is painted to match the picture. After drying, cover with decoupage glue the places that will be decorated with pictures.When the glue is dry, an image is applied to it, covered with paper and ironed with a hot iron.

See the following video for a decoupage master class.