Cut and paste for a quirky upgrade

CHENNAI: Are you bored of seeing the same old wooden furniture at home? Well, you could give them a funky twist, and all you will need is some paper and glue.

You heard it right! An art that originated in 17th Century France, Decoupage is derived from the French word ‘decouper’ which means ‘to cut’.

From there, it spread across different regions of the world and soon became a famous past-time in places like Italy, France and even England.

Of late, namma Chennaiites too have been redecorating their home — chairs, tables, boxes, and vases — with vibrant and colourful papers.

With several workshops being held in the city, people are finding it easier to learn decoupage and hence give their homes a new look.

What to use

Christina Ranjan who has conducted almost 20 workshops so far says that more people are curious to learn a new craft and there is also an urge to use customised and handmade products. “I learnt a few basic techniques of decoupage when I was in school. My interest grew and I explored many other techniques. This is really trending in the city today and more people are interested in learning it well,” she adds.

Decoupage can be done on different mediums such as furniture, wood, glass, ceramics, rexin, canvass, jute, candles and even on stones. And requires materials such as Paper — Bob and Betty decoupage papers, craftreat decoupage papers, papericious decoupage papers, rice papers; decoupage napkins, glue, paint, varnish, scrapper and scissor. “There are so many different kinds and techniques and each one is simply fascinating. I have learnt around 10 different techniques including the fabric decoupage, ceramic decoupage, rexin decoupage and glass decoupage,” explains Sasitha R, a Class 11 student.   

Expensive classes

Although the end results of the hardwork are pretty looking products, the classes and workshops that are conducted are expensive. It starts from `5,000 and sometimes goes beyond `20,000 for advanced classes. Meenakshi Nagappan, an IT sales professional, opines: “They are a teensy bit expensive, but it’s worth it.”
Sachitha too was sceptical about the cost but the classes taught her a lot. “The products we used at the workshop were brought from the US, Italy, Germany, Australia, etc. It is tempting to see the tools and products from different countries under one roof. That adds to the cost of the classes too.”

How long it takes to make

Sri Lakshmi, a homemaker, says that the amount of time usually taken depends on the medium that is chosen for decoupage. Since the process involves a lot of cutting, painting, varnishing and drying, the size of the material or medium determines the time taken. “For a smaller surface, it would take two to three hours. However, a larger surface may take up to six hours, and if you are working on a furniture decoupage, then it can take up to even two or three days,” she explains.

How easily are all these materials available for us? Priya Sivaraj, The Craft Shop, has been sourcing and selling decoupage materials for a long time. “There are a lot of buyers today for these materials. It shows how much the art is trending in the city,” she points out.

Sri Lakshmi concurs and adds, “Most of these products are easily available today, especially the basic ones. As the demand for the art is more, so is the demand for the materials as well.”

How to make
●    Take any MDF (Medium Density Fiber board) product like a pen stand, watch box, etc.
●    Take any decoupage napkin and cut out the images.
●    Paint the product with any colour (the colour should match the napkin)
●    Use sand paper to smooth the surface.
●    Use mod podge (matte/gloss) to paste the cut images.
●    Remove the air bubbles with the scrapper
●    Apply decoupage varnish (matte/gloss) to finish. Dry the product for a few hours.