Decoupage

Ever tried decoupage? I had an old wood tissue box cover that has been painted, repainted, covered in fabric and eventually shoved away as I didn't like any of the previous ways I'd decorated. I like it now. A lot.

This was a fairly long process but well worth it and one that I really enjoyed. It's great to have a break from your regular crafts and try something completely different. It's also cool that I already had a lot of the materials I needed to start and the decorative paper is cheap.

In case you're interested in the process I'll give you a brief account. Firstly, 4 coats of cream coloured acrylic paint. This was sanded back to reveal a little of the original black paint on the edges and corners. The images are from a piece of scrapbooking paper that I cut out with scissors and a craft knife. That took patience!

After gluing and drying the images I varnished a couple of times then applied crackle varnish. The effect was much too subtle so I reapplied but still no joy. Moving on, I mixed raw umber paint with flow medium and rubbed on with a cloth to give an aged or antique look. Then I varnished about a trillion times (I seriously lost count of how many coats!), sanded, varnished, varnished....

I'm going to give a final light sand to take a bit of the shine off, and voila!

Now I'm casting my eyes all around the house to see what else I can decoupage - yes folks, a new obsession is born......