Decoupage: your own sunny world

What is decoupage? The issue is hotly debated: some believe that this is an application with paper cut-out elements, others defend the right to use fragments of fabrics and other materials.

In general, decoupage is an application covered with varnish. Therefore, we will not reject anything, on the contrary, we will be inspired by the best examples in all techniques.

tangled stories

The original art of decorating was formed almost a millennium ago, but if at first the efforts of the masters were aimed at giving the product a formal look, then in a modern reading, the most spectacular examples of decoupage imitate antiquity. Art and history in general are very ironic, and their study helps to understand things much more serious than needlework techniques.

If very, very briefly, it is believed that the first samples belong to the XII century. Decoupage of furniture and small accessories was done in China, where they learned how to make rice paper and paint it in different colors. Paper ornaments and mythological scenes drawn by the artists were transferred to the surface of tea tables, cabinets, caskets, trinkets and fixed with a thick layer of varnish. And in the production of varnish, the Chinese had no equal.

Despite the Great Wall separating the Celestial Empire from the unceremonious northern nomads, the connection between China and the Mongols remained, and they also used a new method of decoration. Mongols and neighboring peoples used decoupage to decorate their temples. Somewhere at the same time, the Japanese adopted the decoupage technique from China - as well as many other things, including the tea ceremony and hieroglyphs.

Further we will talk about what is already closer to modern aesthetics. The British, who imported tea, silk, porcelain and furniture from China, spied on the technique of transferring a pattern from paper to any surface by cutting, gluing and varnishing. By the way, in English it was called Japanning - varnishing.

In the era of the reign of Queen Victoria, it was believed that there was never too much decor - everything was used: stucco, painting, gilding. Favorite motifs were flowers, plants, pastoral and secular subjects. Decorating everything around using decoupage technique, using thin drawn sheets of paper, turned out to be much easier and cheaper than painting household items with paints.

By the way, the first book with decoupage cards was printed in 1760 in London.There were 1500 pictures to cut out! This most popular guide to decoupage for beginners was called: "The entertainment of ladies or the art of varnishing has become easier." Decoupage in England has become extremely popular, even the walls were decorated with it.

All of Europe was carried away by artistic carving and the creation of elegant compositions - Germany, France, Italy have rich decoupage traditions. Actually the term "decoupage" came from France (in French - artistic cutting). The art of lacca contraffatta (fake lacquer) was born in Venice, and later in Italy it developed into the arte povera (poor art) style, and now old things made in this “fake” technique cost crazy money.

By the way, the vintage, defiantly feminine shabby chic style comes from just there, from the Victorian era. Only in contrast to the original things, in modern crafts, they tend to artificially “age” the decor. This is a cute game, an imitation of antiquity without pretense of deceit, available even for beginners to try their hand at decoupage technique, see photo:

Actually, we have come to our time. Yes, the now fashionable decoupage directly continues the Victorian traditions, but goes further - but is there anything that can limit the artist's imagination? Let's see where she brought modern craftsmen.

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Trendy style dictates trendy decor

From the title it is difficult to understand who dictates what, isn't it? Of course style comes first. And here it turns out that in some of the most relevant areas of design, the decoupage technique allows you to do what is impossible or extremely expensive to achieve by other means. To be sure, you need to see it in the decoupage photo.

Decoupage in Japanese style

Do you seriously think that the low, inlaid and painted lacquer cabinet that decorates your Japanese-style living room is hand-painted? Most likely the manufacturer used the decoupage technique. You can pick up the baton and decorate the tray and chopsticks in a similar way - but be careful, this artistic craft is exciting, and it can be difficult to stop. (smiley here)

Japanese-style decoupage graphics include stylized images of flowering and bare sakura branches, chrysanthemums, birds, fans, as well as landscapes and plot pictures in the spirit of traditional Japanese painting. A characteristic feature of Japanese decoupage is the active use of a black background and a rather thick layer of varnish.

For beginners to master the art of decoupage, lacquer miniatures applied to small household items will be especially interesting. Beginners can not do without decoupage cards that suggest design ideas. In the process of performance, one's own style and taste are developed.

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Shabby chic: roses and angels

Shabby chic is Victorian in its purest form. Well, almost ... With lace, stucco, figurines, intricate porcelain and paintings, paintings, paintings! Luxurious whitewashed pink bouquets, angels, flower garlands on furniture, walls, small things. If not for decoupage, then the expensive style in all respects would be inaccessible to most fans.

It is curious that this style has an exact date of birth - 1980. During the 80s, its author (yes, this is the author's style) Rachel Ashwell began to decorate furniture and household items for sale, giving them a look of antiquity and a special aristocratic sophistication. She used painting, but her followers began to decorate caskets, mirrors, panels and furniture using decoupage and volumetric decoupage techniques.

An indispensable attribute of style is the imitation of aging. This effect is achieved in different ways.The background is patinated by applying successively several layers of paint and grinding each layer until “scuffs” form. As a result, it seems that the paint has cracked with time and old layers have been exposed, creating a very picturesque background for a gentle romantic collage.

In other cases, the popular craquelure technique is used - creating cracks, as in an old painting. If only the background is usually patinated, then craquelure can also capture the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe pattern, which is illustrated by an example of decoupage in the photo.

To give a special chic in decoupage, gilding is used, or rather its imitation in the gold leaf technique. They also use the cloisonne technique - highlighting the contours of motifs and the edges of the product with shiny metal strips of gold, silver or copper foil. This enhances the feeling of romanticism and luxury.

In shabby chic style decoupage, drawings are often used to achieve the perfect impression. The contours of the drawing and the product are emphasized with shadows, which gives the image volume and additionally “ages” the miniature, enhancing the nostalgic notes.

Signs of decoupage in shabby chic style:

- airy floral motifs;

- cupids, angels, ribbons, garlands of roses;

- a blurred background of the picture with barely visible peas, mesh, stripes, a scattering of small flowers;

- transparent and delicate shades of pastel colors - pink, blue, vanilla;

- giving the effect of wear and antiquity.

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Provence and decoupage for beginners

This is some kind of misunderstanding - the fact that Provence-style design subjects emphasize its geographical origin in every possible way: olive branches, lavender, cereals, fruits and rural motifs traditionally appear in the paintings. In fact, cockerels and plaid or floral print fabrics are popular in the province of Provence, but ... Designers do not seek to reconstruct an authentic Provencal style, they play with images and myths as they want - and rightly so, because thousands and thousands of their clients they said: yes, here it is, my dream!

The best part for beginners is that Provencal motifs are extremely popular, which means it’s easy to get decoupage cards or napkins and do useful creativity yourself, even if this is the first experience in doing something with your own hands.

There is one more point conducive to experimentation: in the Provence style, man-made is welcome. He easily forgives (and even welcomes) minor flaws, bumps, cracks, which means that the “first pancake” will definitely not be lumpy. Apparently, this gave rise to a wave of interest in decoupage among beginners, many of whom have become real masters and make amazing things in the spirit of Provence.

In master classes for beginners with step-by-step photos, you can often find Provencal motifs. Why are they interesting?

In addition to undemanding to the level of performance, Provencal decoupage pleases with variety and applied value. It is enough to look at the photos of the works of beginner decoupage masters to assess how appropriate they will be in a modern interior.

Recently, Provencal decoupage has been used for applying to ceramic tiles. Usually this is how a ceramic apron is decorated above the cooking area, creating an absolutely original design of a kind of French kitchen - in the sense that we imagine it to be.

Provence palette:

- transparent whitened colors;

- white, turning into beige, shades of ivory and milky;

- ocher, terracotta, mustard, olive, orange, lavender, turquoise;

- a piercing combination of sky blue and cold yellow.

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Simple City: nostalgic decoupage with old photos

Accessories in the urban style of simple city perfectly complement the design of a loft apartment or a classic English interior. The simplicity of the big city, as the name implies, inspired the designers to create a special aesthetic with the signs of old American streets and life during the Great Depression. However, the primacy of the Americans in the discovery of the visual expressiveness of the printed word could be challenged by the British - there was such a trend in the Kingdom at the dawn of the decoupage hobby. Even Lord Byron, they say, decorated the wall of his office with a picturesque collage of newspaper clippings.

The main expressive element of simple city decoupage is fragments and torn pieces of newspapers. Vintage gizmos are often used as a basis - old suitcases, chests, chests of drawers, suitcases, boxes, boxes.

Yellowed newsprint with gothic fonts, columns of advertisements, retro photographs - all this is unlikely to be found on the mezzanines of a Russian apartment, but sheets of thematic decoupage cards will come to the rescue.

If the artist manages to use a truly antique thing as a basis (and the classic of the genre is a cardboard or leatherette suitcase with metal corners and rivets), then in the hands of the master they turn into a true masterpiece, an exclusive accessory for a room decorated in the exotic style of sea voyages or loft, underground. Gorgeous decoupage designs with photographs and scraps of newspaper articles inspire experimentation in simple city style.

In fact, as a basis, they often use what usually goes to waste - some kind of vegetable boxes, bottles, cans, old buckets and shelves. If you don’t see an example of such decoupage in the photo, it’s hard to believe how picturesque things become when they are meant to be thrown away.

Of course, often a chest of drawers or a box is specially made for decoupage, but artificial aging techniques using stains, patination, etc. help to give them a worn look and what is called a “sense of time”.

A collage made on plywood or on a piece of cardboard inserted into a frame can be very atmospheric. By the way, such decoupage is simple for beginners - according to step-by-step photos, anyone will figure out the sequence of execution, and special care is not required here.

We can say that simple city is a brutal antagonist of sentimental ladies' shabby chic. His highlights:

- decopatch technique - torn edges instead of careful cutting;

- the color palette of old newspapers and magazines, old-fashioned color illustrations;

- Latin newspaper fonts, Gothic letters, hieroglyphs;

- "male" themes, including retro technology, urban and industrial landscapes, old vehicles, travel, watches, beautiful women;

- the temporal affiliation of illustrations and texts - related to the first half of the 20th century or earlier;

– scopes of application: loft, vintage, avant-garde, underground, high-tech, urban country.

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vintage boom

Along with provence, shabby chic and simple city, vintage decoupage style flourished. Actually, all these trends are vintage, that is, old, out of fashion, unusual for today. But if the craftswoman wanted to make the decor “antique” without adhering to the canons discussed above, nothing interferes. The main condition: to reflect the stamp of time, mix techniques, stick, varnish - and now, everyone is already admiring the unique vintage interior decoration.

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Types of decoupage for beginners and professionals

Each style is characterized by some favorite techniques. They differ in the way of cutting/pulling out a fragment, surface preparation, gluing, varnishing, painting, preparing the base, etc.

There are three decoupage techniques:

- straight;

- reverse;

- artistic;

– volumetric including – mobile;

- decopatch.

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Straight: basic version

The classic technique of drawing a picture: directly on the surface. Beginners can easily cope with such decoupage, performing it step by step only with a photo of each stage. If the paper is thin (the top layer of a napkin, for example), then the cut-out fragment is applied to a dry surface, and glue is applied on top with a brush, making strokes carefully, from the center to the edges, smoothing out the wrinkles that arise - but this is the easiest way.

The basis for decoupage is almost any. The surface is pre-primed for high-quality gluing and so that color irregularities do not show through the pasted pattern. Primer color is white.

More complex directions of direct decoupage are not immediately given to beginners, but experience comes with practice.

Direct decoupage with a photo

The photo is soaked and a layer of paper is rolled up from the wrong side with your fingers, so that a thin napkin with a photo image remains. This fragile fragment is carefully glued to the surface of the base. The resulting effect: the borders are not visible, and the decoupage itself with the photo turns out to be very contrasting, juicy.

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Transferring a Design to a Surface or Decal

The paper fragment is applied to a surface covered with fresh white acrylic paint, picture side down. The paint is allowed to dry well. The paper is moistened and rolled up so that the picture remains stuck to the paint (only the ink layer). It is fixed with varnish, and in this case acrylic paint serves as glue.

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Transfer with decoupage varnish

A special varnish is applied to the fragment in several layers. After drying, it is firmly bonded to the paint layer. The paper substrate is soaked and rolled up, and the pattern, reinforced with a varnish film, is transferred to the base. After the glue dries, the finished work is again covered with a rather thick layer of varnish and then polished - this is done, for example, by lacquer miniatures on caskets. In this technique, you can also do decoupage with a photo.

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Reverse decoupage

It is applied to transparent surfaces. The fragment is glued on the reverse side so that the pattern shows through the glass or transparent plastic. After the glue dries, a white primer is applied to shade the paints. Then the entire back surface is varnished.

Artistic decoupage

An effective way of drawing and blurring the contours, in which the borders between adjacent fragments, between the collage and the background are blurred. This is a kind of painting using ready-made graphic elements. Requires high skill.

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Volumetric decoupage technique

For such decoupage, not only thin paper with a pattern is used, but also other voluminous materials - fabrics (including draperies created during the gluing process), crumpled paper, beads, shells and pieces of mother-of-pearl, texture pastes. The result is a painted bas-relief. This is the level of professionals.

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Delightful needlework

At some point, mass production technologies became enemies to themselves - everything became too optimized for high productivity and low cost, everything became faceless, monotonous and - tired of the consumer.During the technical revolutions, handicrafts, needlework, individual tailoring, and the art of cabinet-making almost disappeared.

And suddenly (suddenly!) Interest in Hand made flared up, and speaking in Russian - in homemade products and the work of amateurs. At first it seemed that this was a fleeting trend, but over the decades it has captured a huge segment of production. Everyone in whom a creative light burns can make wishes come true in the simplest way - do it yourself.

Create your own world with decoupage - gentle, bright, relatively simple and absolutely original!

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Photo gallery - decoupage for beginners

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Video

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