Decoupage Childrens Furniture

Tips for Protecting Art and Making a Durable Finish

My in-box tells me that decoupaging furniture has become very popular again.

What a great way to display family photos or preserve children's art work. Here is just one example from one of our readers.

I am in charge of classroom art projects for a school auction.

We have decided to decoupage a chair and small table for two of the classes. Can I decoupage the children's crayon drawings or marker drawings on these items?

Can someone give me step by step instruction on doing this?

Dava

The Artful Crafter has tons of Articles on Decoupage.

We also have a search box you can use to zero in on any specific questions.

Here's an article which summarizes the Steps for a Furniture Decoupage Project.

Here's a blog post which addresses more Durable Finishes for Decoupage.

As for using the children's drawings:

If they are in wax crayon, make color copies to decoupage. Wax will likely resist the decoupage medium. Whether you use inkjet or laser copies, it is a good idea to pre-seal with two coats of clear acrylic spray to prevent ink bleed.
If the drawings are done with markers, simply pre-seal as above - no copies required.

Thank you for your help. I told the teacher yesterday to have the students use markers. They each did a small self portrait along with some pictures of their homes. Beautiful.

They are in 2nd grade so they are adorable. We have a desk we will be covering the top of with their pictures.

I have been looking through some of the articles and blogs you sent me but I wanted to ask if there is a particular brand you use to pre-spray the pictures.

I sure don't want to mess them up. Also,

I saw at WalMart some stuff called Decoupage. Is this the best thing to use to glue the pictures on and to seal them with.

It says it takes a long time to dry.

Sorry I'm hounding you so much. I have 7 classes that we are doing projects for.

The 2nd grade is all I have left to do and all of the others have turned out perfect. I don't want them (2nd grade) to not have something they are equally proud of.

Thank you once again,

Dava

No worries, Dava. I'm happy to help.

I personally like Krylon Crystal Clear but any good quality brand of acrylic spray will be fine.

I stress quality because you want a fine spray mist that covers smoothly without drips and blobs.

Some less expensive brands use cheaper spray cans. Keep the spray head clean by inverting the can to spray out residue after use (as directed on the label).

I'm not familiar with a brand named "Decoupage" (which is the generic term for the process).

I used to prefer Mod Podge for decoupage but have pretty much switched to Liquitex Acrylic Gloss Gel Medium because it reaches a harder cure.

If you're using all water-based products, you can add the next coat when the previous one is dry to the touch.

After the project is completed allow about a week (depending on ambient conditions of heat and humidity) for it to cure before using.

If you switch from water-based to oil-based products for a more durable finish coat, be sure to allow curing time after the water-based coats and then again after the oil-based finish.

You'll find a detailed explanation in my Answer to Kate here.

Here is a list of all decoupage related articles on The Artful Crafter.