Decoupage of the painting “Photograph from the Attic”. Thorough master class

To add sophistication to the interior, spending money is not at all necessary; you can decoupage the painting yourself. And since you decoupage the painting completely with your own hands, you will end up with a homemade panel that will become not only a piece of furniture, but also a pleasant gift for your family.

Origin

The origins of decoupage lead to the Middle Ages. Back in the 15th century in Germany, furniture was decorated with cut-out pictures, and then the surface was covered with several layers of varnish. With the help of such appliqué, furniture makers imitated expensive attributes and sold them at a high price; such products are still expensive today.

About materials

The basis for decoupage can be a wooden or ceramic, metal or glass, fabric or plastic object. For example, you can decorate photographs, paintings, a tray, a vase, etc. An important condition is the smooth surface of the source material.

Consumables are:

• Professional glue may only be required when working with a heat gun. In other cases, you can use regular PVA.

• It is better to choose acrylic paints. They do not smell, dry quickly, do not yellow and are easily corrected in the “raw” state.

• In this technique, it is advisable to use decoupage varnishes (matte or semi-gloss), which protect the image from mechanical influences.

• The canvas is decorated with colored paper, stones and rhinestones.

• Borrow images You can directly from paper napkins, clippings from books, magazines, postcards.

Decoupage paintings using napkins

This technique can be used in two ways. First– attach the top layer of the napkin to the prepared canvas and cover it with a mixture of glue and water. This method requires precision and is not suitable for beginners. Therefore, it is better to use a simplified technique.

Preparation

Before starting work, you need to prepare the frame, or rather artificially age it. You can make decoupage with your own hands from a photo frame or order a base from any workshop. You need to cover the surface of the frame with acrylic paint, wait until it dries and apply craquelure varnish. After it is absorbed, you should apply gold-colored paint.

Creating the Foundation

Next stage – creating a canvas from light fabric. In the finished product, the napkin will be transparent, but on a dark background the image may be muffled. The material should be cut to the shape of the frame, that is, attach plastic glass and cut out the fabric with a margin of one centimeter on each side. The resulting rectangle should be glued to the glass. In this case, glue should be applied to the fabric and plastic. The canvas should be coated with several layers of acrylic primer and allowed to dry.

Important! Before starting work, any surface other than wood must be cleaned with your own hands, that is, wiped with acetone, alcohol or dishwashing detergent.

Transferring a picture

First you need to attach a napkin to the fabric and cut out the picture along the contours of the frame. Then the cut out image should be placed face down on the file and glue diluted with water should be applied to it with a flat brush. Once wet, the napkin will begin to stretch. That's why brush movements should be from the center of the picture to the edges. It is very important at this stage to straighten the picture from “wrinkles” with your own hands. Only after this can you attach the image file to the canvas and carefully remove the transparent film.

The edges of the napkin should be well soaked with glue. In this decoupage technique, the ends of the napkin hanging from the edges of the canvas are inevitable. You can cut only wet, well-soaked ends, otherwise you can damage the picture.

When the glue has dried, you should tint individual elements of the image or the entire picture with acrylic paints. Final stage – coat the canvas with decoupage varnish and insert the canvas with the image into the frame.

Decoupage paintings from postcards

Using this technique, you can create a three-dimensional painting with your own hands in just a few minutes.

For this you will need:

• manicure and paper scissors;
• white double-sided tape;
• thick cardboard for the base.

For example, let's take two identical postcards depicting urban architecture. On the first one you need to cut out the sky along the contour, and on the second - houses. Each of the cut out parts represents a separate layer of the painting. The closer it is, the smaller the details should be. In this case, these are flower pots.

The ends of all cut out parts should be made dark using a felt-tip pen.

Strips of tape should be attached to the thick cardboard base. You should also place a square of tape on the back of each cut out piece.

Decoupage cards from napkins

A homemade postcard can be an excellent gift for family and friends. It is made in just a few minutes with your own hands using the decoupage technique using glue, cardboard, napkins and scissors.

It is better to choose thick and colored cardboard. The finished product will have a transparent napkin. To avoid having to finish painting the picture with paints later, it is better to use a colored base.

In this example, we will consider a more complex decoupage technique, that is, applying glue directly to a napkin. Since the canvas is not large in size, even beginners can cope with this task.

At the first stage, you need to separate the top layer of the napkin and cut out the design to the desired size. Next, you need to carefully coat a piece of napkin with glue on the front side so that it sticks tightly to the cardboard. After the drawing has dried, you can draw the outline of the image with acrylic paint of a contrasting color.

Foamiran and decoupage panels (2 videos)

You can transform old or ordinary objects into unique ones using various techniques, but one of the most popular and accessible is decoupage. Available materials and tools are used in the work. All you need “special” is paper or napkins. Below we will tell you how to master decoupage for beginners. You don't have to buy anything super expensive. Glue, napkins, varnish, brushes, scissors. That's the whole set of necessary tools.

Decoupage for beginners: collecting everything you need

First, let’s briefly talk about what you’ll have to work with and what you’ll have to work with. In general, decoupage is fastening on the basis of a material or paper with a printed pattern. To ensure that the design does not wear off longer, it is coated with several layers of varnish. Here is a brief description of the decoupage technique.

Decoupage is a technique that allows you to make something special out of ordinary things.

Base

Any weakly absorbent base is suitable as a base for decoupage. What can this technique be used on? On the following grounds:

As you can see, the list is substantial. Only very porous substrates with a lot of irregularities are not suitable for decoupage. And this way you can decorate everything: from dishes of any kind to furniture and doors (and you can use both the surface of the doors and glass inserts).

List of tools

You need a few tools:

Everything from tools. Unless you still need stationery - a ruler, a pencil, an eraser.

Consumables

Now we will talk about consumables. We won’t talk about napkins and paper here—they’re a separate item. In addition to them, to make decoupage with your own hands, you will need:

That's all that may be required, so although decoupage requires a financial investment for beginners, it is not very large.

Napkins, paper

For decoupage, napkins and paper with a printed pattern are used. They are glued to the surface and covered with varnish. There are the following types of materials for this type of decor:

In general, they also use special pastes to create three-dimensional images, ordinary photographs from which the bottom layer of paper has been removed, and other drawings. But it’s not easy to work with them, and this is not decoupage for beginners, but for those who are already developing their skills.

Napkin decoupage: techniques

The main idea of ​​decoupage is to decorate a surface with an image or design. The process is creative and there are no concepts of “right” or “wrong”. The surfaces and patterns are different, so different techniques are used. You just need to choose the method that works best for you.

Decoupage bottles - a good start for beginners

The easiest way to start mastering decoupage is by gluing large fragments. When you learn how to glue napkins without folds, you can move on - master the methods of volumetric decoupage or using crackle varnish. In the meantime, let's figure out how to work with large fragments.

Preparatory work

First of all, you need to remember that napkin decoupage for beginners will have to start with preparing the base. It should be even, smooth, without holes, chips, or humps (except for those that are specially provided). To help - putty and sandpaper. After the surface is leveled, the workpiece is covered with primer (selected according to the type of material) and then coated with white paint.

The stage of applying white paint is mandatory. The fact is that the napkins are very thin, and when glued they become translucent. If they are glued to a white surface, the design remains bright. If the surface is colored or dark, it fades noticeably and there is no desired effect. Therefore, paint must be applied even to plastic or ceramics, and possibly in several layers.

What to do with a napkin

First you need to decide what type of napkin to use.

How to decide whether to tear the napkin or cut out elements from it? According to the size of the picture. If the fragments are large and have clearly defined boundaries, they are cut out. If the drawing is small, it will stick one next to the other, they will be torn. This will make it easier to match the edges.

Gluing methods

You can only choose how to glue napkins for decoupage through experience. First of all, we decide what exactly we will glue with. Can:

• Varnish.
• Special glue.
• PVA - diluted or not.
• Glue stick.
• Egg white.

Gluing to varnish is no worse than gluing to glue. But after drying, you can’t do anything - the napkins become almost monolithic with the product. If you don't like something, you won't have a chance to change it. That’s why beginners most often use PVA glue - it’s cheaper and easier to work with.

If you decide to use PVA, you will have to think (or try) to use it diluted or undiluted. Most often it is diluted with ordinary water in a 1:1 ratio. When using such an adhesive composition, you must be prepared for the fact that the napkin gets wet from the water, can be pulled in different directions, and can tear due to careless movements. In general, you need to adapt.

A glue stick is also a good option... if you can get all the bubbles and wrinkles out. This occurs normally on smooth, slippery surfaces. If the surface is rough, this is much more difficult. It is safe to work with egg white, but it is specific, so if you want it, you have to try it.

How and where to apply the adhesive

Beginners usually choose their first object for decoupage to be small in size. In principle, this is not bad. It’s just desirable that the shape be simpler: without a lot of bends.

If the decoration object is small, you can use a brush or fingers to apply the glue. Then use the same “tool” to level the napkin. Use a flat or straight brush - whichever is more convenient for you. Many people prefer to work with their fingers - you can feel all the folds.

When gluing napkins for decoupage, you can apply the glue to the object or to the napkin. They do this and that. When applying to a napkin, again, there are two techniques:

• The glue is applied evenly to the entire piece to be glued, applied to the base in the middle. Using movements from the middle to the edges, air bubbles are expelled and folds are straightened.
• A certain amount of glue is poured into the middle of the fragment. Next, the steps are the same: lay it on the base, smooth it out.

In the second technique, it can be easier to deal with bubbles and folds - with a large amount of semi-liquid glue it is easier.

What and how you do is not important. It is important that there are no wrinkles or bubbles

You can do the same if you spread glue on the base: make a small puddle in the place where you are going to glue the fragment, lay it down, and, lifting the edges, drive out the bubbles and smooth out the folds.

Decoupage of a flat surface: glue + iron

When decorating a flat surface, you can do it easier than driving bubbles through the entire napkin. Apply a layer of PVA glue to the primed surface or coat it with a glue stick. Spread well so that no “tracks” are formed. Let it dry. To speed up the process, you can take a hairdryer.

Place and level the napkin on the dry surface and smooth it with your hands. We place a piece of baking paper on it and begin to smooth it with a hot iron from the edge.

Decoupage for beginners - maybe try something like this?

As the glue heats up, it saturates the napkin. Usually it turns out quite smooth. When everything is glued, coat the top with more glue and let it dry. This is perhaps the easiest way to learn decoupage for beginners.

File+water and glue

Decoupage for beginners using a document file (choose thicker film), water and glue. This method is good if you will decorate with large drawings (cut out). Pour some clean water into the middle of the file and place the cut out fragment in it, face down. We carefully straighten it, expelling bubbles and straightening wrinkles. In a puddle of water this is not difficult.

When the fragment is straightened, lift the edges of the file and drain the water. The design remains stuck to the smooth film. In this state it is convenient to “try it on” and look for the best place for it.

Having found the area where you want to place the decoration, we apply the design on the film and begin to smooth it out. This is a very difficult moment. You need to ensure that at least one edge of the napkin sticks. After one of the edges of the image has been fixed, gradually smoothing and lifting the edge of the film little by little, we ensure that the napkin remains on the base. If you act gradually, gradually gluing the picture to the base, bubbles or folds will not appear. This method is suitable as decoupage for beginners.

When one edge sticks, everything is no longer difficult

The last step is to coat the stuck napkin with diluted PVA glue. After it dries, we apply a protective layer of varnish.

A few secrets

This cannot be called methods of gluing napkins for decoupage. These are little tricks and tricks that can help you get rid of creases faster or better.

1. Before work, the cut out fragments are moistened with water from a spray bottle. The napkin stretches, but when it dries it no longer shrinks. If it has become very warped, it is ironed. Then use it as usual. Since the paper is already straightened, it hardly stretches anymore. Everything goes easier.
2. Moisten the fragment with acrylic varnish in the form of an aerosol. In this case, the napkin will become rigid, it will not stretch or form folds. But varnished, it no longer allows glue to pass through, so we coat the surface with glue and glue the treated napkin onto it.
3. Wet the napkin that is already lying on the base (dry) and only then coat it with glue. It's a little difficult to explain, watch the video.

We eliminate flaws

If the surface is decorated with small torn fragments, from which it is necessary to obtain a single whole, straighten the edges of the fragments with a brush or fingers. If there is color unevenness somewhere, dilute the paint of the desired shade and paint over the translucent base.

When the surface is no longer very wet, but has not yet dried, you can use thin brushes and acrylic paints to draw in the details, add brightness and clarity.

The next step is to decorate the edges of the product. There are different approaches here. In some places you have to trim the edges evenly, painting the sides, in others you can wrap the napkin on the back side and glue it there. In general, this is also a whole science.

Getting it to the finish line is an equally creative process.

After this, you can leave the product to dry. To speed up the process, you can use a hair dryer, but you need to keep it at a considerable distance, move it all the time and make sure that it dries evenly. If after drying you see that there is a fold on the glued napkin, you can still fix it. Take fine-grained sandpaper and sand it. We act gently so as not to damage the drawing around.

Varnishing

The dried product is coated with water-based acrylic varnish. You can use another one, but this one is considered the best. Apply one layer first, and after it dries, apply a second one. You can stop there, but if active use is expected (boxes, chairs, etc.) there may be more layers of varnish - three or four.

Photos of products using decoupage technique

Studying technology is not bad, but without knowing the possibilities, it is difficult to imagine what can be done and what can be expected. A few photos will help you decide what you can or want to do.

Decoupage can transform an old table into a new and very unusual one.

Stools are also an art object

This technique is called reverse decoupage - napkins are glued to the glass with the front side

labels

How I make labels. Kostikova Natalya Khabarovsk, Khabarovsk region, Russia

I am often asked. HOW DO I MAKE LABELS? This master class will answer this question.

To work you need to have:

1. A sheet of thermal transfer paper (I’ll explain it below)

2. Printer

3. Ruler

4. Stationery knife

5. Satin ribbon 15-20mm wide

6. Ironing board

7. A piece of cotton fabric



Difficulty on a five-point scale -1



1. First, a little about what transfer paper is. The paper consists of two layers: the first is the paper itself on which the ink from the printer is applied, the second is the protective layer, which is removed after heat treatment. This fabric makes it possible to transfer any printed image onto the fabric. There are two main types of paper: the first allows you to transfer an image only to white and light fabric, the second - to any other, including black. In this master class I use the first option, since the color of my ribbons is pastel shades. The operation of the two options is slightly different, and this description only applies to this option. I use paper from the famous manufacturer Lomond, you've probably met it before. Perhaps you saw this particular paper, but didn’t understand why it was needed :-)

This is what the cover of thermal transfer paper looks like when transferred to white fabric

And this is how it is translated into black

Such a product is produced not only by Lomond, and I accept options for using paper from other manufacturers.



2. The first thing we do after we have dealt with the paper is print an image onto it. Naturally, the main thing is not to confuse which side - this is important!

And one more important point when using paper for light fabric, the image must be printed as a mirror image. Something like that.

3. Here are a few images that you can print out on an A4 sheet to get blanks for labels indicating that your product is exclusively handmade :-)
Just click on the image and it will open in good resolution.

4. Cut printed labels

5. You will need a satin ribbon 15-20mm wide

6. Place the cut labels face down on the tape.

7. Covering them with a cotton cloth, iron them for about two minutes. This is necessary so that the labels are slightly attached to the tape. The entire process of gluing labels with an iron is best done indoors, where you can then open a window.

8. Remove the fabric and iron for another five minutes

Let's make a small panel for a dacha or country house using the decoupage technique on canvas.

To make the panel we will need:

Materials:

• - wooden frame,
• - a piece of thick cardboard,
• - a piece of canvas or thick linen fabric,
• - napkin for decoupage,
• - acrylic primer,
• - PVA glue
• - glue for decoupage,
• - acrylic paints,
• - matte acrylic varnish,
• - candle,
• - dried flowers.

Tools:

• - sandpaper,
• - brushes,
• - scissors,
• - foam roller

Manipulations with the “picturesque” canvas:

On a piece of thick cardboard, cut out based on the internal dimensions of the wooden frame, we glue a piece of canvas using PVA, slightly larger in size than a piece of cardboard. Let's send it to dry under the load.

When the glue dries, cut off the excess canvas with scissors.

Apply acrylic primer to the canvas using a roller or brush. Let's dry it thoroughly.

We place the top pictorial layer of the napkin on the primed canvas and begin gluing the napkin from the center to the edges, carefully smoothing it with a brush, then, having collected a little decoupage glue on a flat synthetic brush, we begin to “drive” the napkin into the canvas. We drive the napkins over the entire area.

When the glue has dried, cut off the excess napkin and cover our “picturesque” canvas with matte acrylic varnish. After the varnish has dried, the panel is ready, let’s make a decent frame for it.

Manipulations with a wooden frame:

We sand the wooden frame, then cover it with two layers of acrylic primer on both sides, with intermediate drying.

Using a brush, apply the first layer of acrylic paint, in my case ocher, to the front side of the frame, and let it dry. Once again!

Using a piece of candle or paraffin, rub the “protruding” parts of the frame and its edges in some places.

Let's paint the front and back sides of the frame with acrylic paint, in my case it's burnt umber, a darker paint than that applied in the first layer.

After the paint has completely dried, we will rub our frame with sandpaper. In those places where the frame was rubbed with paraffin, the top layer of paint will come off and the lower layer will appear - lighter. The frame has acquired the appearance of an object that time has not spared at all... Let’s insert a “picturesque” panel into the frame

Let's add some zest to our frame: collect a small bouquet of green dried flowers and glue it to the frame, decorate it with a raffia bow.