How to Make Rice Paper Decoupage

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to the next make great stuff how-to video. In today’s video, I’m going to demonstrate something that I call Rice paper Decoupage. This technique is fast, fun and super easy and it’s a great first time decoupage project. The first item you need for this project is an object to take decoupage. Today, I’m going to decoupage this porcelain vase because I really like its simple shape.

The second item you need is thin rice paper or any soft handmade paper to cover your object. I’m going to use a sheet of this fun black and white Tida paper from Thailand today and even though there’s so much crop of paper that’s pretty it will not work well for this project because it really isn’t soft enough for this technique.

In addition, you’ll need a jar of glue. I’m going to use my Mod Podge today but if you have Matte Medium, Elmer’s or something else similar that will work just as well. You also need a container of water and cheap brush to glue it. That could be a foam brush from the hardware store or an inexpensive craft brush like I have here and depending on the vase you use you might need a brand new razor blade.

And finally, you’ll need some sort of top coater’s sealer. You can continue to use the same glue or you can try something glossier like Polymer Medium or water base polyurethane. The first thing you need to do is tear your paper into pieces. Some around the size of the palm of your hand, some bigger. I recommend tearing at least half the sheets so you don’t have to keep going back and tearing when your hands are all gluey.

Once your paper is torn you’ll need to fill your water container, open your glue and set your little pile of paper pieces next to your object. Since I prefer to work from the bottom up. I’ve turned to my base upside down so I can see what I’m doing and I’m ready to start. Pick up one of your torn pieces and lay it face down on the table. Deep your wet brush into the glue and begin coating the back of the paper, making sure to really saturate the whole piece.

Paint more glue on to the base where you want the paper to go and then paint the paper to the vase using more glue still and adding extra water or glue as you need to. As you see I’m really using a lot of glue. Repeat this process as you work your way around and then up the vase. This is basically the whole technique and you could be done with this part of the project in less than an hour.

It can be hard to tell how your project is looking when the glue is still wet and the people is still wet so just have faith and keep going. When you get about halfway through your base turn it over and continue gluing. Once you completely decoupage the outside of your base and let it dry you’re ready to trim. A base like this which has no shoulder and the inside is completely visible, looks best if you create a clean finish.

Use a brand new razor blade and slice it into the dry stick paper on the rim like this. Slowly rotating the base as you trim the paper off with the blade. Once you’ve gone all the way around you can continue to clean up any extra bits of glue or paper with the blade and if you glue and cut too much off or create a wobbly looking edge you don’t like just glue down more paper, wait till it’s dry and try again.

If you use a base like this one however, with a big shoulder and narrow neck I prefer a different method. To handle the curve of the neck I use smaller narrower strips of paper so that they don’t bunch a wrinkle to much as I glue and I continue tearing and gluing these narrow pieces for the inside curve as well, making sure to get all the way underneath the shoulder.

I personally think a glossy top coat goes a long way to creating a pleasing finish to this particular project because the glossiness has the effect of the uniting the patch work of torn pieces and the one coherent design. Elevating a simple decoupage technique into a sophisticated surface treatment.

Here’s the final piece along with the couple of other examples different papers for you to see the possibilities. Thanks for watching another make great stuff how-to video and come visit us at makegreatstuffs.com and take your creativity to the next level.