“Household items can become works of art,” home decor artist Huang Ssu-wei (黃思維) said as she used decoupage techniques to cover notebooks, chairs and tables with cutouts of decorative napkins and colored wrapping paper, turning old items into works of art.
The term decoupage refers to the technique of decorating an object by gluing colored paper, gold leaf and other materials to it, in combination with special paint effects.
Using this technique, a small box or an item of furniture is covered with cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers. Each layer is then sealed with varnish, and sanded to a polished finish to conceal the “stuck on” appearance, with the results looking like paint or inlay work.
Photo: CNA
According to Huang, decoupage was very fashionable in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. The interiors of royal and aristocratic homes often featured beautifully designed and exquisitely decorated furniture. Because the general public could not afford these items, they cut out designs and patterns from printed materials and glued these onto their furniture, she said, adding that arising from common folk culture, this handicraft art technique evolved into what was later called decoupage.
She said decoupage is still popular in Italy, where there are professional schools and companies working on the research and design of specialty decoupage papers.
Annual decoupage exhibitions are still being held in Italy, she added.
Huang said she was traveling in the Czech Republic some years ago, when she discovered some decoupage decoration in a furniture shop that made a deep impression on her.
After returning to Taiwan, she looked for teachers to teach her the technique.
Committed to mastering the craft, she quit her office job and focused all her efforts on setting up a decoupage studio.
She is now teaching the handicraft to students in Greater Tai-chung after she obtained a teaching certificate from the Italian Decoupage firm TO.DO Hobby & Craft Division of Colorificio Centrale S.p.A.
Using the decoupage technique, Huang says she is able to convert old into new.
She said even an old refrigerator can be made to look like new, and she can even compose cutouts to look like a painting.
“During the Lunar New Year holidays, I always feel sad to see many pieces of furniture discarded by the side of the road. Actually, all it takes is a little creative thinking and the application of your ideas. Furniture can be renovated to look like new. This can save money because you do not need to buy new stuff. Furniture adorned with decoupage can become works of art, which decorate spaces in your home,” she said.
According to Huang, the most simple decoupage technique is to cut out a pattern or pictures from napkins, cotton paper or colored wrapping paper, then apply an adhesive coating to the item, affix the cutouts onto it, and after that apply a further layer of adhesive coating.
“Decoupage is really simple to learn. It’s not like painting, which requires a lot of skill and practice. If you know how to cut, paste and affix things, you can complete the task,” she said.
“Even if you make some mistakes, these can be rectified. For impatient people, decoupage is easy to get into. You can start on something and have the product finished in no time,” she added.
After teaching decoupage techniques for about 10 years, Huang said her sense of satisfaction comes from her students’ finished products, “especially when they turn ordinary everyday objects into works of art, that is when I feel most proud.”
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS