How To Make Decoupage Waterproof Using Varnish and Shellac?
Most of us, if not all, have some or other hobby. Hobbies become our way of expression, a way to unwind, to forget the dire responsibilities one needs to fulfill and to just live in the moment. One such hobby is Decoupage.
A lot of us do decoupage or have heard about it and it definitely sounds fun, right? These beautiful pieces of art built-in leisure need protection – Protection from water.
Otherwise, in the long run, they might lose their beautiful design or some other issues might pop up. Hence, to save you from such unwanted trifles, I’ll be sharing some of the ways in which you can waterproof your decoupage!
Even before that, let’s understand what decoupage is all about. This would help us understand the waterproofing process better.
What is Decoupage?
In simple words, a decoupage is an art form where paper cuttings are pasted on various objects like glass, furniture, boxes, Easter eggs and any other object, to resemble a beautiful painting. It originated from the French word “découper” which means “to cut out”.
As I mentioned above decoupage is mainly pursued as a sort of hobby. This hobby can be picked up by people from varied walks of life – old, young, middle-aged, any gender, occupation and others. It lets your creative self on a spree.
One can simply cut out pieces of paper from a magazine and paste it on, say, a box using glue and Lo! Your first decoupage is ready.
For decoupage painting, below listed items are popularly used:
- Magazine cutouts: look for the magazines lying beside you
- Wrapping paper: these are pretty, filled with trendy designs and have the perfect thickness for decoupage painting.
- Origami paper: Who isn’t into Origami? It’s so cool! If you have those with you, just go ahead and do some decoupage!
- Tissue paper: Tissue papers are also a great option considering their thickness. However, it falls short of the beautiful designs. Most tissue papers are plain and mainly white.
- Decoupage tissue paper: This is almost a tissue paper but with beautiful designs on it and white on the flip side. You can tear them and paste it. This can be easily found in the craft stores.
- Decoupage paper: Decoupage paper are papers with high quality designs and a stiff body. You are not supposed to tear Decoupage paper, use it as they are.
- Light fabric material: The fabric should be light and ideally natural like cotton. Synthetic fabrics don’t go with it.
- Or any other paper you would like to use.
After having decided the material you will be using, you can go on to arrange these things, namely, scissors, PVA glue/ Mod Podge, crafting knife (used to carefully cut the decoupage paper to prevent it from tearing and cutting the intricate designs) and of course, some solutions for waterproofing.
Now that we have a fair idea about decoupage, let’s move on to our main focus that is decoupage waterproofing.
How To Waterproof Decoupage?
Is decoupage itself waterproof? No. Even when you use Mod Podge (Mod Podge is a decoupage medium, all in one glue, sealer and finisher) decoupage doesn’t become waterproof.
Check out the recommended mod podge here:
However, it certainly becomes water-resistant up to a certain level. It usually depends on the kind of Mod-Podge you are using.
Regular Mod Podge is slightly water-resistant, followed by Mod Podge Outdoor which is a bit more water-resistant and then Dishwasher safe mod podge which is even more water-resistant. None of them are water-proofing solutions.
They can withstand water up to certain degrees depending upon their strength of chemical composition but start losing in the long run. You might start noticing your decoupage designs becoming blurry (cloudy) or marks of water (similar to bubbles) on them.
Hence, waterproofing is absolutely necessary. Don’t worry, we brought you below two methods that are really simple!
- Using Varnish
- Using Shellac
Waterproof Decoupage Using Varnish
Varnish is a mixture of:
- resin like polyurethane and others,
- solvents like mineral spirit,
- driers and
- oils like Tung oil or linseed oil.
The resin in it helps varnish provide a certain degree of heat protection to the surface it is applied to. Tung oil and linseed oils are widely known for waterproofing wooden surfaces or any other surface for that matter.
Varnishes can be matt or glossy. These are transparent liquids mostly used to seal woods. Nonetheless, it can be used for various things like paintings, decorative items and decoupage. Varnishes especially made for decoupages are also available.
For decoupage, glossy varnishes are preferred to matt ones. This is because the glossy ones don’t blur out the decoupage and add a slight professional-looking shine to it. The matt ones in an attempt to mattify the thing end up making it look cloudy.
For decoupage, varnish layers can be anything between 4 and 15. It depends on the kind of material used for decoupage i.e., its thickness, weight and other similar aspects and the kind of look you want.
If you would want a properly placed design where you cannot feel the decoupage material, you would definitely require a lot more layers.
The varnish layer should suffice you for many (5-10) years to come.
Required Material:
Procedure (Step by Step)
1. Apply Varnish
Yes, that’s pretty much the first step. Using a brush (don’t use a sponge brush as it would lead to uneven application, this would also be mentioned on the decoupage varnish) apply the varnish. You can use this brush from Amazon for applying varnish:
Make sure, you are doing this in a well-lit area. Otherwise, you won’t be able to notice the portions which aren’t getting coated.
Make sure to move the brush in opposite directions. Firstly, apply the varnish vertically and then horizontally or vice versa. This leads to an even and smooth application.
2. Smoothen it
After the varnish layer dries off under room temperature (at most 2-3 hours), you need to use sandpaper to smoothen the varnish layer. Wet the sandpaper in water and rub it on the layer and brush away the excess. Alternatively, you can see this wet-dry sandpaper.
Now you can keep applying the layers to reach your desired look.
Important Tip:
Acrylic varnishes work quite well with decoupage. Acrylic is based on water and acrylic varnishes get absorbed easily by the paper or natural fabric material used.
They also take a minimal time of 15-20 minutes to dry up. If your nearby store can’t provide you with a decoupage-specific varnish, ask for Acrylic varnishes.
Have a look at below acrylic varnish:
| Photo | Product | Buy |
|---|---|---|
 | Aleene's 26412 Spray Gloss Finish, 6 Oz Acrylic Sealer, Original Version, Clear - Gloss | Check Price On Amazon |
Waterproof Decoupage Using Shellac
Shellac is a kind of resin that is obtained from the female lac bugs in the forests of India and Thailand mixed with solvents like alcohol. It is a highly water-resistant finish and is used on wood.
Once shellac dries up, it forms a hard impenetrable layer on the surface. Even when immersed underwater, shellac can safeguard the product for 4-5 hours (but can form white rings which eventually fade away as the water dries up).
Shellac is also UV resistant, but ironically, you shouldn’t use it on things that would go near the heat. This is mainly because; white or brownish rings are formed on it which would ruin the decoupage’s design.
So, keep the decoupage away from heat. In case, you have used decoupage on a vase that will be placed close to a candle or any other source of heat, apply resin on it.
Also, shellac looks very beautiful, dries up pretty fast and hence is less time-consuming. On the other hand, it scratches quite easily.
So, decoupage which is primarily a showpiece and nothing would be placed on it or won’t be used for some specific purpose, shellac would suffice you.
Shellac coating would last for as long as you don’t specifically disturb or use much. It can last you for anywhere between 1-5 years with 5-6 coats. Also, if you want to repair the shellac, just rub some alcohol and it would come off for you to re-apply a new coat.
Required Material:
- Shellac
- Brush
Procedure (Step by Step):
1. Apply the shellac
Again, there’s nothing specifically required to prepare the decoupage before applying shellac. Using a brush, apply thin layers of shellac over the surface.
Check out below shellac from Rust Oleum Store:
Shellac emits a lot of smell so you need to do this process in a place where proper ventilation is present. Also, it should be done at room temperature.
2. Let it dry
Let the shellac dry. You can keep the shellac in a box so that the smell doesn’t disturb the entire’s room fragrance. Re-apply the shellac.
Shellac or Varnish?
You see, Shellac demands a lot of things yet isn’t quite reliable for long nor does it let you use the object for some other purpose.
On the other hand, the varnish is a lot easier to work with and provides a long-term solution. And as expected, varnishes are preferred by almost all the decoupage artists.
Also, once you have the varnish with you, you can use the remaining to seal other objects like furniture, a tool, wicker and others.
Final Words:
The mere word “decoupage” sounds so beautiful and rightly so. Use decoupage to revamp your old-looking box or vase or some other object and see it becoming a chic, modern piece of art.
Whatever be your preferred method (though I am already assuming you’re going to use varnish, and you definitely should) waterproofing decoupage is really important. It lets your artwork be durable and usable. Hope this was useful to you!
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