You may not be familiar with the term decoupage, but it is a method of decorating your house that gives it a completely unique look and personalised feel.
To start your decoupage journey, you will need coloured paper cut outs, which you can get from leftover wallpaper after papering a room in your home.
You can decoupage almost any piece of furniture as long as it is possible to glue paper and paint it.
The most common items to decoupage are either boxes, like jewellery boxes or chests, or furniture that is predominantly for display purposes.
The key to a perfect decoupage is preparation.
Make sure you over-stock on all different colours, styles and designs of paper so you can create an explosion of colour and beauty on whatever you are transforming.
Of course, you can choose to stick with just a couple (or even just one) of designs if you have something very specific in mind for whatever you are decorating.
A fantastic trick to make your furniture or trinket look as though it was manufactured that way is to slap on multiple coats of varnish (sometimes up to 40 layers, which then requires sanding to a polished finish) when you are finished. Eventually it will give the appearance that it is an original piece of artwork.
Different Types of Decoupage
Decoupage has transformed over the centuries to become more creative and expressive.
You can 3D decoupage, which includes layering multiple pieces of foam spacers to create an image of depth, covered by coloured strips again.
Another version is called pyramid decoupage, or pyramage. This is similar to 3D decoupage but the shapes from the coloured paper are cut into identical shapes that get progressively smaller until they reach the peak of the pyramid. Spacers are still used for pyramage to pad out the size of the pyramid.
The Origin of Decoupage
The art of decoupage is thought to have been practiced for at least 1000 years already.
Having first started in East Siberia as tomb art, decoupage spread throughout East Asia and was used to decorate traditional pieces of Chinese furniture such as lanterns and boxes.
Through trade links with Europe, and Italy in particular, decoupage travelled from China to Europe via traders, and with the renaissance already in full swing, and technological inquisitiveness for artistic progression, decoupage has been transforming ever since.
Modern decoupage has evolved to involve high-tech printers, resin and enamel sprays, making the production much simpler.
