The Lovely Art of Decoupage, And My Experiment With Decoupage Tabletop Wares
Dabbling in this
historic art process,
What is Decoupage?
Something about the process and the finished product with decoupage has long fascinated me. Maybe it's the cutting and pasting which takes me back to elementary school art projects, or perhaps its the repurposing of art bringing it together in a different but decoupage is an art that has beautiful applications and results. Firstly, what is decoupage?
Decoupage is a French term which translates to the "art of decorating" specifically to an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it with special paint effects such as gold leaf or decorative elements. Each layer is sealed with a varnish until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like a painting or inlaid work. Sometimes there are many layers that are then sanded or polished to a refined finish.
Since I already design and manufacture a line of wallpaper, I am ahead of the game with lots of scraps of beautiful inspiration that I can then bring together. As we designed our newest upcoming collection, Lodge, I used some of those patterns and brought them together on the back of a set of vintage hexagon shaped plates. It works beautifully because applying a decoupage on the back of plates and with a dishwasher-safe finish allows the plates to be used with food.
I grew up with Depression Glass, and my mother loved it so we had many colored-glass pieces on our table. So, with a set of clear hexagon salad plates, I experimented with my idea. I cut up three different patterns into small pieces and started layer by layer letting each layer dry overnight then adding another until I had 12 unique plates then I painted the back of the plate a pale blue-green color in a chalk paint (again, letting each coat of two coats dry overnight), then sealing the entire collection with a water-resistent varnish. Then after all that drying I sanded the edges to give each plate a finished feel...I used a very fine sandpaper. See some of my results.
