Decoupage An Old Trunk

How to Go About a Decoupage Project

Give New Life to an Old Trunk with Decoupage

Anything old is new again with decoupage!

I have never been a crafty person and feel very out of my element. But I have an old trunk that I really want to decoupage with my old comic books (or copies of).

My question is, where do I start?

From reading your site I think first thing first is prepare the surface (sand down, dust free) and get copies of the comic book pages.

But where do I go from there?

Also, the trunk has a terrible gold metal trim. Is there any way I can make that black or decoupage over that too?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions and help!

Randi

It's sounds as though you've been finding your way around The Artful Crafter pretty well without any help from me!

I think you read the article on prepping wood for decoupage and perhaps the one on decoupaging comics to wood.

You're correct. First you need a smooth clean surface. Then the wood needs to be sealed so that the acid (naturally found in wood) will not eat away the paper images over time.

The sealing can be done with acrylic paint or the medium you will use to decoup with.

I do recommend one-sided copies of the comics rather than the two-sided originals.

Here's a tip I came up with fairly recently: seal the ink jet or laser copies with two coats of Krylon Crystal Clear spray to prevent ink bleed before gluing them down.

I used to swear by Mod Podge and still use it occasionally but now prefer Liquitex Clear Varnish for decoupage. It forms a harder cure.

Two coats is all you need.

Leave about three hours between coats.

Smooth out any wrinkles and bubbles when you lay down the copies.

If you choose Mod Podge, don't be concerned if it turns white and the paper seems to be developing new wrinkles when you add another coat.

Mod Podge does not reach a hard cure and turns white (i.e, softens) when moistened. The paper will tighten back down and the Mod Podge will turn clear again as it cures.

Allow one week for curing before using the trunk.

As for the metal trim, you can either paint it or decoupage over it but it might be tricky getting images to conform to all the angles and edges.

If it can be removed temporarily, it will be an easy job to spray paint it any color or finish you like.

Replace it after the decoupage is all done and cured (about a week).

If you can't remove it, you'll just have to paint it by hand.

I would leave that for after decouping and curing as well. Decoupage gets a bit messy at times. If you paint the hardware first and then get some Mod Podge on it, you risk lifting the new paint job.

Welcome to the fun world of crafting!

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