Here is an obvious question. "How do you decoupage a picture or a scene onto an egg?" Obvious question, rarely answered. Above you see a sweet example of this from a manufacturer of Easter novelty.
Here is my version of the same process, only, I've used an elaborate patterned design.
This lovely pattern was taken from a fancy dinner napkin. You need to separate the layers. Only use the top one.
Measure the length of your egg and cut rectangular strip from the napkin or tissue paper to fit neatly around it. Now you will need to cut at regular intervals, slashes into your design. Notice how I do NOT cut all the way through the rectangle. I leave about an inch uncut. This uncut central part of the rectangle is the continuous, uninterrupted part of the design that wraps around the mid section of the egg. The larger your egg the wider this section will be. After cutting this napkin thus, apply Mod Podge to the surface of your egg and carefully paste down the napkin, starting first with the middle part of the design. The fringed parts of the napkin will overlap some but the design will be preserved for the most part.
After cutting and gluing this first piece of the napkin, I then cut out parts of the design that I thought the most attractive from left over napkins and pasted these on the top and bottom parts of my egg where the design did not cover. This is because I used very large eggs for this project and my napkins were quite small.
This is the wider, bottom half of my egg that needed additional decoupage to cover it completely.
In order for your eggs to look professional, you need to use very thin tissues for this project. This insures that the design will appear uninterrupted and hand painted. Also, I was very particular about the colors of eggs that I used for the design. Had I used dark blue or purple plastic eggs, this design would not be as attractive. The napkin is very thin and the colors will show through the glue and tissue, so be selective. This egg was yellow. The one below was pink.
In order to make this Easter egg, you will need to purchase a small bag of alphabet pasta. DaVinci brand makes an alphabet pasta that is ideal and when you have finished the Easter craft, you can save the left overs for homemade tomato soup! I first cover my large, plastic egg with white glue and newsprint and set it aside on wax paper to dry over night. Then I pasted the three dimensional, paper flowers by Martha Stewart onto my egg. After letting the paper flowers dry, I then glued the pasta to spell out the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness (loyalty), gentleness and self control. After the glue used to paste the pasta on the egg dried, I dipped my finger into a little black, acrylic paint and dabbed the alphabet letters with a bit of color. This enhanced the lettering so that it could be seen better. After the paint dried I used Mod Podge to seal the surface of the egg completely.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23 - New International Version (NIV)
Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf
and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture
is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured
papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay
work. The traditional technique used 30–40 layers of varnish which were
then sanded to a polished finish. This was known in 18th century England as the art of Japanning after its presumed origins.
The most likely origin of decoupage is thought to be East Siberian
tomb art. Nomadic tribes would use cut out felts to decorate the tombs
of their deceased. From Siberia, the practice came to China, and by the
12th century, cut out paper was being used to decorate lanterns,
windows, boxes and other objects. In the 17th century, Italy, especially
in Venice, was at the forefront of trade with the Far East and it is
generally thought that it is through these trade links that the cut out
paper decorations made their way into Europe.
Artisans in Florence, Italy
have produced decorative objects using decoupage techniques since the
18th century. They combined decoupage with other decorative techniques
already popular in Florence, such as gilt with gold leaf and carved wood designs. These older techniques were already used to produce articles such as furniture, frames for paintings, and even tooled leather book covers. Known as Florentine style crafts, these items are now highly collectible antiques.
Decoupage was added to the Florentine artisans' methods by adding it to
the space within a carved gilt frame, or by adding the decoupage to a
wooden plaque. Artisans used pasted reproductions of famous artworks,
nearly always religious depictions. Florentine triptychs using decoupage images of such Biblical scenes as the Crucifixion are a common motif. As society became more secular in the early 20th century, and non–Roman Catholic
tourists began buying more crafts from Florentine artisans, decoupage
images became less religious in orientation and more reflective of famous Italian artworks in general.
Common household materials can be used to create effects. Here is a short list of supplies:
Something to decoupage onto. Examples include: furniture, photograph albums, plates, ceramics, shelving, frames, mirrors.
Pictures to decoupage with. These can come from myriad sources: newspapers, magazines, catalogs, books, printed clip art, wrapping paper, greeting cards, fabric, tissue paper, lace, paper napkins
Cutting utensil. Scissors, craft knife (X-Acto) or razor blades can be used.
Glue. Standard white glue works best if it is diluted with a little water. Specialty glues can be found in most crafting stores.
Smoother. Popsicle sticks work well. A brayer is a specialized tool like a miniature rolling pin designed to help remove wrinkles, remove excess glue and smooth pictures.
Glue spreader. Many things around the house can be use for this: cotton swabs, paint brushes, sponges.
Rags, sponges, tissue paper to help wipe up glue and other clean up.
Sealer. Glue or other decoupage medium can be used as a sealer. Alternatively, polyurethane, spray acrylic, epoxy resin or other lacquers are usually used.
Mrs. Mary Delaney
achieved unexpected fame at the age of 71 in the court of George III
and Queen Charlotte of England thanks to the 18th century decoupage
craze. Moving in the circle of Jonathan Swift and Sir Joseph Banks, and
possibly taught art by William Hogarth, she was introduced to George III
and Queen Charlotte by Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, and
became a court favorite.
In 1771, she began to create cut out paper artworks (decoupage) as
was the fashion for ladies of the court. Her works were exceptionally
detailed and botanically accurate depictions of plants. She used tissue
paper and hand colouration to produce these pieces. She created 1,700 of
these works, calling them her "Paper Mosaiks [sic]", from the age of 71
to 88 when her eyesight failed her. They can still be seen in the
Enlightenment Gallery at the British Museum today.
Notable modern day "Master Decoupeurs" include Durwin Rice, Violet
Knoxville (Vanesa de la Puente) and Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Modern
day decoupage has evolved over the years beyond the simpler style of
gluing images to plates and vases. The use of high-tech printers,
resins, and enamel sprays contribute to the "modern" decoupage method.
