Upcycled Crafting: Teaching My Young Friends To Decoupage

Decoupage - ahhh - a beautiful French word that makes it possible to glue paper to other stuff and call it art.  At least that's what I wanted to teach my students.  Sometimes, people can be so concerned with coloring within the lines, making the "perfect" tree, or putting all the pieces in the right places and they take all the fun out of making art.  My plan:  To teach the kids how to decoupage and then let them create anything they wanted.  It worked.  Sort of.

I have been collecting recyclable materials for a number of weeks in the hopes that I would have enough of one kind of material for all the students to use.  My friend recently installed a new closet system in her pantry (lucky girl!) and was left with a lot of "trash."  Before dumping it, she asked me if I wanted it.  Uh, yeah!  Have you seen this awesome packing material?  I never have before, but I love it!

I asked my local friends to borrow their paper punches and they were very generous - I had over 20 punches with which the kids would be able to experiment.  We would use old magazines and punch out shapes to decoupage onto our packing material canvas.

The key to good decoupage is the glue.  Usually, I buy Modge Podge, but it was cost-prohibitive to buy enough glue for 13 kids, so I decided to make my own podge.  Using white glue that I found on clearance, I made a 1:1 ratio of glue to water and gave a good shake to make my podge.  You want a thinner glue than just plain white glue.  Modge Podge is the standard, but the homemade stuff works too!

After I had my paper punches and glue prepared, I decided to make a sample to show the students what a finished product might look like.  I used acrylic craft paint and put a thin coat of paint on one side of the cardboard piece.  While it dried, I played around with all of the punches.  Once the paint dried (which happens quickly when a thin layer is applied), it was time to decoupage.  First, I put a thin layer of my podge over the paint.  Then I added the shapes I had cut out from old magazines and put them on the board.  Then I brushed some podge on top of the shapes and then let them dry.

Voila!  You've got art!

I collected all of my supplies and brought them to class.  If you would like to try this project, here's what you'll need:

Cardboard or some kind of surface that will withstand paint and glue

White glue mixed with even parts water, or Modge Podge

Paint brushes

Bowls for paint and glue

Old magazines

Scissors and paper punches (or just tear the pieces of paper for an even artsier look!)

Your imagination!

I introduced the project to the class and to my surprise, most of the kids had heard of decoupage.  Some had even made collages in the past and used podge glue.  I was hesitant to show them my sample because I wanted them to use their creativity and not feel like I was giving them "lines" to "draw" within.  So, I warned them that I didn't want to see one piece of art that looked like mine.  My goal was to inspire them to create an original piece of art that they would be proud of and would wake their inner artists.

Some of my students dove right in and used every paper punch.  Some were not interested in using the paper punches at all.  But all were having fun!

At the end of the class, their pieces were lined up to dry for a bit.  It was our own decoupage art gallery!

So while I hoped that they would abandon the "rules" and do some overlapping of papers and explore texture and color in their paper choices, we only had an hour, including time for a snack.  After all, this was an enrichment program for elementary school children, not RISD!  That said, I think the creativity was there and had I given them more time, I know they would have gone further out of their comfort zones.  I am so proud of the work they did!  I still have so many old magazines left over, I am sure we will explore decoupage again. Hmmm... I have an idea coming to me...

Have you ever tried it?  Does this inspire you to try?  Let me know what you're crafting!