Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30–40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish. This was known in 18th century England as the art of Japanning after its presumed origins.
Decoupage has been an interest of mine for years, I'll get inspired, make a few things, then go on to something else. I pictured the box on the right in an earlier post, I use it to keep magazine images in. I discovered the small clip boards at Staples recently, so of course I splurged and bought 3, one down and well, we'll see how soon I get around to the other two. ;)
Click on images to enlarge!
The examples below I found on Etsy!
Tutorial can be found HERE
