DIY napkin paintings

To give the interior beauty and sophistication, it is not at all necessary to spend a lot of money, because you can create paintings from napkins with your own hands using the decoupage technique. The origins of this technique lead to the Middle Ages. Back in the fifteenth century in Germany, various carved pictures adorned furniture, and then covered the surface with several layers of varnish. Using such applications, furniture makers created imitations of expensive attributes and sold at a high price - such products are quite expensive today. Consider how realistic it is to make such beauty with your own hands, spending literally a dime.

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About Materials

The basis for decoupage can serve as a ceramic or wooden, glass or metal, plastic or even fabric item. For example, in this technique you can decorate photo frames, paintings, a vase, a tray, chairs, chests of drawers, kitchen cabinets and furniture in the bedroom, living room. An important condition for work is a smooth surface of the source material.

To work in this technique, you need to stock up on the following:

• Professional glue may be required only when working with a thermal gun. In all other cases, you can use ordinary PVA.
• Paints are best used acrylic. They are odorless, dry quickly, do not give ugly yellowness and are easily corrected in a “wet” state.
• In this technique, it is advisable to use decoupage varnishes (semi-gloss or matte) that protect the image from mechanical stress.
• The canvas can be decorated with pebbles, rhinestones or colored paper.
• Images can be borrowed directly from paper napkins, clippings from cards, magazines, books. You can also print your favorite image on a printer.

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Decoupage paintings with napkins

To make a panel of napkins with your own hands, you need to stock up on all the necessary materials and carry out preparatory work.

Foundation preparation

First you need to prepare the frame, or rather, artificially age it. To do this, cover it with acrylic paint, and after drying, apply craquelure varnish. So on your frame will appear interesting cracks that imitate antiquity.

Important! Any surface, except wood, must be cleaned with alcohol, acetone or dishwashing detergent before starting work.

The next step is to create a canvas from light fabric:

1. The material must be cut in the shape of a frame, that is, a plastic glass of the base should be applied and a fabric of 1 cm on each side should be cut.
2. Glue the resulting square or rectangle onto the glass, while the glue must be applied both to the fabric and to the base.
3. Then cover the resulting canvas with several layers of acrylic primer, leave it to dry.

Important! In the finished product, the napkin will be almost transparent, and the image will be poorly visible on a dark background.

We make out the image

Now it’s the turn of transferring the picture:

• Attach a napkin to the fabric and cut the picture along the contours of the frame.
• Then put the cut-out image with the face on the file and apply glue on it with a flat brush.

Important! Before starting work dilute PVA with a small amount of water.

• After getting wet, the napkin begins to contract, so the brush movements should be from the center to the edges. At this stage, it is very important to completely straighten the picture so that there are no “wrinkles” on it.Only then can you attach the image file to your canvas and carefully remove the transparent film.
• The edges of the napkin should be thoroughly saturated with glue. With this technique, the hanging ends of the napkin from the edges of the picture are simply inevitable. You can cut them only when wet, otherwise they can damage the picture.
• When the glue is completely dry, tint individual elements of the image or the entire picture with acrylic paints.

We give strength to the picture

The final step is to cover the canvas with decoupage varnish and to frame the canvas.

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Stock footage

So we figured out how to make paintings from napkins with our own hands. Using decoupage technique, you can also decorate furniture, interior elements, clothes and much, much more. Understanding the intricacies of this technique, you will learn how to create incredibly beautiful and original things.