Jonathan Fong Style - Decoupage Fine Art Chairs

Decoupage Fine Art Chairs

Decoupage Fine Art Chairs

I’m obviously getting carried away with decoupaging after the success of my kitchen cabinets. Now I’m doing dining room chairs. I bought some used bent wood chairs and decoupaged them with some snazzy fine art prints. They look too nice to sit on, but go ahead. There are 5 layers of polyurethane between Picasso and your tush.

What you'll need:

A chair with a smooth, continuous surface
Your favorite fine art print
White household glue
Acrylic polyurethane (I used high gloss for these chairs)

How to do it :

Thanks to Durwin Rice, the nation’s premier decoupage guru, for getting me hooked on decoupage. His book “New Decoupage” is a great resource.

1. Clean the chair with a spray cleaner.

2. Fill in any chips with spackle.

3. Cut the poster so it will cover the surface of the chair. Make sure you buy a poster that is big enough for your chair.

3. Using a sponge brush, apply glue to the surface of the chair.

4. Soak the poster in the bathtub to relax it.

5. Place the poster carefully onto the glue-covered chair and line it up. The poster tends to expand in water, but don’t worry. You’d rather have the poster extend past the edge of the chair than be too small for it.

6. Using a wet rubber brayer or wet fingers, smooth out all the bubbles. There will be lots of air pockets. Be careful not to tear the poster; as long as your fingers are wet, you will be able to handle it. Even if it looks like you’ve removed all the bubbles, they will come back as the poster dries, so you must keep an eye on it and keep smoothing out the bubbles. Be vigilant.

7. Let the chair dry over night.

8. When dry, use an x-acta knife to trim any poster that extends past the chair.

9. Apply 5 coats of acrylic polyurethane, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next.