How to Decoupage A Plate And A Bottle – A Beginner’s Story!

The first time I tried decoupaging (is that a word?) was a few days ago in a beginners class and we started decorating a plain plate and an old bottle and they turned out quite beautiful, although I really need a lot of practice in order to get it right! We used the materials described below. You don’t need to use special decoupage supplies, just experiment a little to find what other things work for you. My little one helped, too. But make sure to use child appropriate materials if you want your kids to help! So, as you can imagine, I don’t claim to know anything about decoupage! I will try to describe how we went about it on our first try, following our teacher’s instructions!

Decoupage supplies you need for decorating a plate and bottle

• Paint brushes (a wide brush and a small brush preferably)
• Paint (mocha color) – you can use acrylic paint or some other liquid craft paint
• Paint (white color) – you can use acrylic paint or some other liquid craft paint
• Clear Crackle paint
• Mod Podge or clear, liquid decoupage glue
• Old newspapers to protect our working surface
• Paper towels
• A small bowl with water
• Paper napkin with bird motif and paper napkin with butterflies’ motif (or choose whatever motifs you like). Try to get napkins where the motif is on white background for better results. You can use special decoupage napkins and decoupage paper, but it is more expensive
• Clear sealer paint
• An old, clean and plain plate and an old clean bottle
• Twine

Instructions for decoupaging a plate and bottle

The steps might seem like too many, but they repeat themselves 🙂

1. Lay out the newspapers on your working surface and arrange all your materials in front of you. Open the mocha paint container or empty some paint into a separate container.
2. If your paint is thick and you can’t work well with it, first dip the brush into some water, strike off the excess water and then dip the brush into the mocha paint and paint the surface of the plate and of the bottle. Don’t use to much paint, just enough to cover the surface with a nice layer of paint. If your plate or bottle has any details or tough to get to spots, use the small brush to paint them.
3. Let the paint dry completely. Use a gentle hair dryer if you are in a rush. While drying rinse your brushes under running water. Dry them with a paper towel as good as you can.
4. With the clean, wide brush, apply to the plate’s and bottle’s surface a thin layer of the crackle paint with quick strokes. Use the small one if necessary, too. Again, let it dry completely. Use a hairdryer if needed. Rinse your brushes and dry them.
5. While waiting take your napkins and carefully rip around the motifs you want to use. Don’t let any straight edges unripped and don’t use scissors. Separate the napkin’s layers (if you bought a 3-layered napkin, make sure to separate all of the layers). Keep only the layer with the motifs and set them aside.
6. When your plate and bottle are dry, dip your wide brush into the white paint and with very quickly strokes apply one single layer of paint. Try to not repaint a spot, rather make quick small strokes to cover the whole surface. Use the small brush if necessary. Once again let it dry. As it dries, you will notice that small cracks are formed on the surface. That is the effect we were going for. You know the drill by now… use hairdryer, wash brushes, dry them, and wait a little longer. Close all paint containers or wash the containers you used. You won’t need the paints anymore.
7. Once dry, it’s time to apply the napkin motifs. Empty a small amount of glue into a clean container, or just use it directly from its container. Arrange your motif onto the plate to decide where you like what. When you are satisfied, lift one motif from the plate and apply glue to the spot you want the motif to go. Use any brush works for you. Apply only a layer of glue, not too much, but you don’t need to worry about the area you apply it to. Just make sure that you cover a little more area than your motif needs. Lay down the brush and pick up the motif, face up. Gently lay the motif onto the area you applied the glue. Using your fingers or a sponge, carefully straighten it out, making strokes from the center to the edges. Be careful not to rip the napkin, it is very delicate.
8. Repeat the same thing with the other motifs and let everything dry. Apply another layer of glue over the motifs. Let everything dry. Do the same with the bottle. Rinse brushes and containers. Use glue and twine to decorate the bottle.
9. Now it’s time for the final step. Just apply a layer of the clear sealer paint on the plate’s whole surface. You can apply a second layer after letting the first one dry completely for better protection. Let everything dry. As you can imagine, these are not to be used with food or drinks, since we didn’t use food-grade materials.

And there you have it! A nice plate to beautify your home or to give it to somebody who you care about!  The whole thing took us about two hours to complete. Isn’t the end result nice? Other decoupage ideas I am thinking of are decoupage on wood, furniture, boxes, vases and on Christmas, I will try decoupage ornaments!

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