DECOUPAGE PHOTO FRAME

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Gifts made with love, with your own hands - it is always unique, interesting, unusual. In addition, it is completely not expensive. But if on the prow of holidays - New Year or March 8 - then a lot of presents are required, and this is a big blow to financial opportunities.
An ideal gift for both women and men is a photo frame with a picture of a pleasant moment in life or a loved one. We’ll tell you how to decorate the frame using the decoupage technique.
What is this technique?
Decoupage is gaining more and more popularity among the fair sex. It requires the same accuracy as embroidery, but a colorful result can be obtained much faster.
Sometimes modern prints are printed on modern serving napkins, which fit to compete with painted fabrics. The image from the napkin is not difficult to implant, imperceptibly stick to any surface. You can take individual motifs or a piece of the napkin as a whole. More details - in this master class.

Tools and materials

For decoupage, you first need to choose a suitable napkin or decoupage card. In addition to the basics (photo frames) and pictures, prepare:

White acrylic paint (construction or decoration);
Sponge for washing dishes and clothespin;
Sandpaper;
Putty or structural paste;
A plastic card and a plastic spoon;
Acrylic varnish in a cylinder;
White paper.

Beginning of work

The photo frame with the cut-out inscription "Best Couple" - "Best Couple" - was bought at Fix Price store. The decor, to be honest, is a little meager. We revive it with a floral-note napkin.

First, take a putty for decorative work or structural paste. A plastic spoon will be needed to take the right amount of material and put on the frame. We will use a plastic card as a spatula, pressing, spreading letters with a paste, so that all of them (cut through the stencil) are putty. Let the frame dry very well. Cracks that form when the paste dries, once again, we coat with putty.

The frame, of course, is best disassembled so that water or paint does not get on the glass.

After the letters have completely dried, we grind with sandpaper until smooth.

With the help of a sponge fixed on an ordinary clothespin, apply acrylic paint (movements from top to bottom, soft, you need to wet the surface as if).

It is necessary to apply two coats of paint successively, and then sand it with a sandpaper so that the surface becomes perfectly even. If some irregularities cannot be removed, I recommend covering them with the same putty and letting it dry (it dries very quickly).
So, the surface is prepared. We start decoupage using a file.

Decoupage with file

We tear the motive out of the napkin. In this case, one fourth is useful.
Put the drawing face down on a clean and dry stationery file. It is desirable that the file is dense, so it will be more convenient to work. From the brush, drip water on a napkin until all the paper is in the water, as in a puddle.

After that, with a soft brush, it is required to expel all air bubbles from under the delicate napkin. The picture will be flattened on the file, drain excess water onto a towel.

Carefully combining the edges, put the file with a napkin on the prepared surface of the photo frame. Smooth it.

Carefully remove the file so that the picture remains on the frame. It is attached at the moment only to the water.

With the same soft flat brush, smear the pattern on top with PVA glue. The napkin is thin, and glue penetrates through it, firmly holding the surface together. If necessary, in the process of gluing, correct small irregularities, creases, carefully moving the napkin to the right place. Your movements should be extremely delicate.

To keep the napkin in place and not to be damaged when it dries, I recommend making an incision in the middle of the “extra” part (where the photograph will be).
Attention! It is absolutely impossible to blow dry this work! Under the influence of warm air masses, the motive can move, and it will not be possible to level it, you will have to start work again.
After the frame dries (you can leave it overnight), the middle part will stretch like a drum.

Now you can safely cut it with a margin of allowance of about 0.5 cm. On each side.

Gently fold the napkin to the wrong side of the job, sticking it on the PVA. Let it dry.
Put the photo frame on paper or newspaper, and also close the brown edges. Apply a layer of acrylic varnish on top to protect the picture. Let the varnish dry (up to half an hour) and coat the work with varnish one more time.