Part one of my decoupage art was Girl With A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. To create the piece, I purchased Posh Chalk Decoupage paper from Etsy, and I got the frame from Good Will. It was a huge success. It currently hangs at the top of my staircase, and I love it!
With my second attempt, I wanted to experiment with a different medium like a print instead of decoupage paper. I had already purchased some digital versions of prints from Etsy and had them on a flash drive. I went to Kinkos and had two printed. Girl Reading by Jaques-Emile Blanche and the other print I could not find information on, but it is beautiful. My thinking was that if the prints worked, I would not have to buy decoupage paper and therefore save money. The prints were $20 a piece versus $30 for decoupage paper version of the Girl With A Pearl Earring plus shipping. I ended up saving a little money, but the jury was still out as to whether or not it would work.
This is what happened:
I found four of these pictures at Good Will. I couldn’t pass them up. Each one has a very solid wood frame and is perfect for a print.
My original plan was to paint the frames in a faux wood finish, but it just wasn’t working so I went to plan B.
Plan B was to paint them with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Athenian Black.
I put on two coats of the Athenian Black. Once it dried, I sealed it with Annie Sloan Black Wax.
I used Roman wallpaper and border adhesive to attach the prints the same way as I do with the decoupage paper.
I started at the top, applying paste then placed the print on top.
As I worked my way down, I smoothed out the wrinkles with a brush. Then I applied paste on top of the print which turned out to be a mistake because it caused the paper to bubble up.
To fix the problem I waited until it was dry then put a slit wherever there was a bubble
Once the slit was open, I pushed glue underneath.
The bubbles smoothed down, but I still had some wrinkles.
I added gold around the inside of the frame and the outside to make the print stand out more.
I repeated the same process with the other print, but I did not put the paste on top and there was no bubbling.
I am glad I tried this method. The pictures are beautiful but, in the future, I will stick with decoupage paper. It is much easier to work with.
Those of you who know me won’t be surprised that I decided to redo the Girl Reading print. My family says it looks great, but I see all the mistakes.
Until next time!
