Like peeling layers from an onion, many layers on decoupage can make you cry.
Hi Eileen:
Firstly I want to tell you how very helpful your website and blog are. You are now my go to person for everything decoupage!
I just started doing decoupage and am trying to determine the best products to use. There are so many different opinions on the internet and I’m a little overwhelmed and confused as to what I can use with what.
My first project was a simple vase using tissue wrapping paper.
1. After gluing all the pieces to the vase and letting that dry for four hours, I applied two coats of Mod Podge Gloss Luster, (letting it dry between coats for a couple of hours) and then let the vase dry overnight. I then sanded it to take all the wrinkles out and then I applied three coats of Liquitex Gloss Medium, (letting them dry two hours between coats) and then let it dry overnight.
It has been curing for over three weeks and it’s still tacky. What did I do wrong?
2. Should I just not use Mod Podge as a sealant? Should I switch to the entire Liquitex line and just use it so I don’t have the tackiness? Should I be using Liquitex’s new line which includes an archival permanent varnish instead?
The next couple of projects were reverse decoupage plate projects.
3. Because I didn’t have an image exactly as I wanted it, I printed a black and white image and painted it with pigment ink brush pens. (I let the graphic dry from the printer for a couple of hours and then sprayed it with Krylon Workable Fixit and let that dry for a couple of hours before I painted it and after it was painted then sprayed another coat of Krylon Workable Fixit). Then let that dry overnight.
4. I did not soak the graphic (which was printed and painted on HP Premium 32 lb laser copy paper) in water before I glued it onto the plate because I was afraid the paint would all come off.
Should I have soaked the graphic in water anyway because it was sealed with Workable Fixit?
5. After I glued everything to the plate using the same technique as above, I used a couple of different brands of acrylic paint (just 1 coat) just because that’s what I had available. Then I used Mod Podge Gloss Luster (4 coats to seal) for a glossy finish.
That was worse. After all the Mod Podge the acrylic paint seemed to be extra tacky and the finish wasn’t very glossy so I thought the two different brands of paint might have had something to do with it. The image on this project just looked dull and lifeless and it was inked partially in metallic gold.
Does using two different brands of acrylic paint matter?
6. What are the best type of brushes to use for painting acrylic? I had trouble with hairs coming out in everything. Should I have used a heavier stock paper with no gloss (this had a tiny bit of gloss to it, hardly noticeable).
I’m trying to figure out if the problem was the paper I was using, the acrylic paint or Mod Podge.
7. Do I have to allot so many hours of drying time in between and after applications? It seems a bit obsessive.
I know these are a lot of questions, but I live in a small town and can’t find anyone to mentor me. Any type of response would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for your help!
Andrea
Thank you for the kind comments. I’ve numbered your questions and my answers so you can easily correlate them. As you said, there are a lot of questions.
Tissue Paper Decoupage on Vase
1. Whoa, that’s a lot of coats of decoupage media! The two coats of Mod Podge would have been enough. PVA water-based media like Mod Podge and Liquitex cure by evaporation. The lower the ambient humidity, the faster a piece will cure. At 100% humidity, decoupage media would never cure because there would be no space in the air for more moisture.
Since you decoupaged on a non-porous surface, the moisture could only escape in one direction, complicating matters.
Finally, the more layers you have curing at once, the harder it is for moisture to escape to the surface. The average time for a coat of PVA decoupage medium dry is 2 hours, i.e., not just dry to the touch but no tackiness. The average cure time is 3 days. These times vary with the proportion of water in the media; humidity; temperature; air circulation; and thickness of application.
It’s okay to layer two coats after the first is dry to the touch but not cured; just expect curing to take a while longer.
Keep in mind that the final coat determines whether a finish is matte, satin or glossy; not the number of coats or the finish on your paper image. You could put one topcoat of matte media and, if you then decide you’d prefer a glossy finish, use a glossy medium for the final coat.
2. I prefer Liquitex or Golden for a harder cure. Mod Podge is notorious for softening when subjected to moisture for extended periods. Set a drink on a Mod Podged coaster for an evening and you will notice that the Mod Podge turned white again. It will re-cure if left in a dry place for a couple of days, but this is inconvenient.
All decoupage media I’m aware of are archival, a.k.a. acid-free. I wish all manufacturers would put that on their labels to avoid confusion. They would if they realized they’re creating marketing opportunities for competitors who do.
Your vase may still be okay. If ambient humidity is high, try lowering the humidity. There are a several ways to do this:
If your refrigerator is the dehumidifying type, place the vase in the fridge;
Place vase in a dehydrator as is used to make dried fruit and vegetables;
Move vase to a closet where you can plug in a room dehumidifier and close the door;
Put vase in a closed cabinet with a bucket of a product like No Damp Dehumidifier pellets or a small dehumidifier.
Decoupage under Glass
Again, my first observation is too many layers.
3. You mention laser paper but not whether you printed from a laser printer. If the print is laser toner, there’s no need to seal at that point.
Pigment inks don’t dry well (if at all) on glossy paper.
HP describes the 32 lb. (120 gsm) Premium Laser Paper as “thick, heavy paper … with a glossy finish.”
In other words, the paper you used is too thick and has a glossy coating which probably interfered with the pigment inks.
Plain computer or copier paper is the perfect weight for decoupage. Coated or heavy papers complicate your project without even improving the final result.
4. As for relaxing the paper fibers before smoothing the image down on your project, do a test sheet.
If you’re using a laser print on un-coated paper and adding color using pigment inks, you don’t need to seal at all and relaxing the paper should not be a problem.
Neither laser toner nor pigment ink soak into the paper. They dry/harden on the surface and are impervious to moisture.
By the way, this is an ideal combination. Black laser toner prints are crisp and clean. However inkjet color prints reproduce color better than laser. So finishing your image with pigment inks gives you the best of both worlds. Pigment inks dry opaque and appear more bright and vibrant than toner inks. Pigment inks are fade resistant as well.
If you have an inkjet printer, print on regular paper, add your color, then seal on both sides to seal the inkjet ink. Then try moistening the paper. If there is any smearing of the black ink, you need a denser fixative spray. Clear acrylic spray works well. Use two light coats; but skip the relaxing. If the paper fibers are sealed from both sides, water won’t relax them anyway.
5. As long as the brands are of equal quality, using different brands of acrylic paint is just fine. It’s best not to mix together different types of paint, for example tempera and acrylic, without testing the results first. Be sure to check the labels when you grab a jar of paint. Voice of experience talking here.
6. You need better quality or new brushes if a lot of bristles ended up on you project. The paint isn’t the problem. As a brush loses more bristles, the remaining ones are more loosely packed and the fallout will only increase. For acrylic paints, buy synthetic or a blend of synthetic and natural bristle brushes. A squared (flat) tip is good for layering decoupage media and painting large areas. Buy a pointed tip brush for detail painting.
Tip: I prefer “disposable” foam brushes for decoupage. Well-rinsed and squeezed dry they last through many projects. I often use my fingers to lay down decoupage media especially on small projects like the Easter eggs I’m decoupaging right now. Both foam brushes and fingers leave fewer stroke marks, i.e., a smoother finish.
7. No, no, no, you do not need to allot so much time to a decoupage project; and yes, yes, yes, what you’ve put yourself through is obsessive.
To boil it all down, the problems and unsatisfactory results you experienced were caused by:
The wrong type of paper – too heavy and coated;
Too much wait time on some steps (e.g. neither inkjet ink nor laser toner need a couple of hours to dry/harden); and not enough on others (If for some reason, you need many layers on a project, and especially if on a non-porous surface like a vase, eliminate unecessary ones and allow more wait time between important layers depending on each type of medium);
To a lesser extent, the choice of Mod Podge which doesn’t cure as hard as some other brands; and
Definitely too many layers!
I’m in a mood for turning phrases today, so I hope you will indulge me.
“Any problem [in computer science] can be solved with another layer of indirection. But that usually will create another problem.”
David Wheeler, computer scientist, Cambridge University.
Just apply the Wheeler quote to what you experienced: each unnecessary layer added time, materials, frustration, and often a less than satisfactory result.
“Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple.”
John C. Maxwell, author and lecturer on leadership
To paraphrase Maxwell, “Beginners take something simple [like decoupage can be] and make it complicated. Experience teaches us to take something complicated and make it simple.”
Don’t be discouraged, we all had to begin at the beginning. Feel free to write again if you have more questions. I’d love to be your decoupage mentor.
Here are more Decoupage Articles.
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