Materials For Making a Decoupage Tabletop

Series Summary

A decoupage is an arts and crafts project that involves gluing several pieces of paper cutouts, paint and other things together and covering it with a see through lacker. In it's completion it looks like a painting. It is thought to have originated in China in the 12th century but it became known as decoupage when it reached France in the 17th and 18th centuries. People today like to use this style of art for things like scrapbooks, photo albums and even furniture like the table top in this video series.

This is a great video clip series that will not only give you a great start on your decoupage idea but maybe also give you a few new ones. Our expert, Karen Weisman, is a whiz with arts and crafts as well as cooking. A Jill of all trades, she will walk you through the entire process from beginning to end. Through the materials needed, the cutting and gluing processes and the finishing. All the while giving you ideas to help further your own project ideas. So pick up that glue stick youngsters and lets get to gluin'!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Karen for Expert Village. Today I will show you how to decoupage a table top with a chess board design. We will be using some of the fabulous stationary papers that are available in craft stores, stationary stores and specialty paper stores. Decoupage is a great decorating choice because it allows much more precision in design than you would have if you were painting. Plus the variety of papers of available give you a huge range of colors, textures and style to work with. We will be using a mulberry paper which has fibers and leaves pressed into it. Used on our chess board, it almost looks like marble. You can turn any table top into a beautiful decoupage chess board. I am using an old one that I want to refurbish, its been very used so it's already marked out with the grid but all you would need to do is on your, if you had a plain table top is to mark out the grid of the chess board to start. Now I am going to be using these beautiful mulberry type papers. They have lots of texture and pretty colors. You can get an amazing assortment of fine papers now and you can put together beautiful decoupage with these papers. You will also need some decoupage glue for this project, scissors, a paint brush, some sand paper, a two twenty grit just to finish the surface. And you will also need either a paper cutter or a cutting board and straight edge. "