Christmas Decoration in the Decoupage Technique

Hello, everyone! I’m here again to share one more Instructable that can male your Christmas tree special! Christmas is already on its way, so, it is high time to get ready for the holiday As I have already mentioned in my previous post, I adore this holiday and prefer to make decorations on my own. There are lots of techniques and ideas to make use of on the web, so, I study them thoroughly, try to create my own Christmas decorations, which will make my home and my Christmas tree unique. This time, I’m eager to offer you the Instructable on how to make wonderful Christmas decorations in the decoupage technique. I’m sure that those of you, who have never tried this technique, will like it a lot. So, don’t hesitate and let’s get started right now!

The list of supplies you will need for your Christmas decoration is provided below:

• Plastic balls (of the same size or of different sizes)
• Acrylic primer (white)
• Acrylic paints
• Self-hardening ceramic clay
• Bitumen enamel
• Lace
• Decoupage glue
• PVA glue
• Carton
• Casing knife
• Polyurethane water-based lacquer
• Paper napkins with a flower ornament (I used red napkins with camomiles)
• Printouts
• Liquid nails
• Satin ribbon

Take as many plastic balls as you need for your Christmas decoration. We will start with the first one. The rest should be prepared and decorated in the same way. So, take a plastic ball, degrease it and cover with white acrylic primer.

Cut the paper napkins with a flower ornament into thick strips (as shown on the photo). Cut out the images you will attach to your Christmas balls. The images may be versatile. This depends upon your interests and needs. I used the printings with cute cartoon lamb faces.

Now, glue one paper strip along the ball – on the place, where two parts of it are joined. This place should not be visible.

Take carton and cut out the template of your print. Then roll out the self-hardening ceramic clay, attach the template and cut out the decorative element (in my case, this is a lamb face) using a casing knife. As a result, I’ve got a lamb face made of clay. To make the legs, I cut out a round-shaped carton element of the required diameter, attached it to the clay and repeated the previous actions. Then, I have cut the circle into 4 parts. The tail is also made of clay.

Attach the clay elements (the faces) to the balls and press them lightly to give them the required shape. Leave the clay elements aside to let them dry according to the instructions provided on the clay packaging.

Cut out decorative lace elements (any you like and consider suitable) and attach them to the balls using PVA glue.

Now, paint the balls with acrylic paint, the color of which should match that of the napkin. I used red paint, of course.

Wait until the balls dry out. Paint all the clay elements you have into brown color and attach to the balls using liquid nails.

Then paint the decorative lace elements using white paint.

Now, take the paper images you have cut (my lamb faces) and attach them to the clay elements using the glue. Then cover the balls with polyurethane water-based lacquer, paying special attention to the faces.

Cover the balls with bitumen enamel to give them the old-like look.

Finally, cover the entire surface of the ball with a layer of matt polyurethane water-based lacquer and wait until it dries out. Attach the satin ribbons and enjoy the result! That’s it! It seems like a process is quite time taking and a bit complicated, but that’s really easy, believe me! The result is definitely worth the effort! Merry Christmas!