The Art of Decoupage

  



      We all have passions.. One of mine is the technique of decoupage. Perhaps my favorite distressing technique, since its the one that I mostely use for the transformation of any type of object that will catch my attention. This is why I've decided to create a post (after a long period of time, I know.!!) with so info and some examples of what someone, with a bit of imagination, could create with this technique. Enjoy.!


    

    Decoupage, is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it, in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf etc. Commonly a small object (like a smal box or an item of furniture) is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manifactured papers. Its layer is sealed with varnishes until the "stuck on" appearance disappears.
The traditional technique used 30-40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish.
This was known in 18th century England as the art of Japanning, after its presumed origins.

    The most likely origin of decoupage is thought to be the East Siberian tomb art. Nomadic tribes would use cut out felts to decorate the tombs of their deceased. From Siberia the practice came to China, and by the 12th century cut out paper was being used to decorate lanterns, windows, boxes and many other objects.

    Notable modern day "Maste Decoupeurs" include Durwin Rice, Violet Knoxville and Queen Margrethe of Denmark.
Modern  day decoupage has evolved, throught out time, beyond the simpler style of glying images to plates and vases. The use of high-tech printers, resins and enamel sprays contribute to the "modern" decoupage method.

* all the informations were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupage

*the images were taken from: http://1.bp.blogspot.com, http://img2.etsystatic.com, http://swedepeace.com, http://farm4.static.flickr.com, http://tsoupress.files.wordpress.com, http://o5.com

The Passion of Origami...

   I have to admit, Origami is perhaps one of my greatest passions. The limitation of the means you have to treat a paper is rather exciting and fascinates me the most. The pieces that are produced from this technique are simply extraordinary. So today's post is  a tribute to the Art of Origami and Akira  Yoshiwaza, who was considered the grandmaster of Origami.

   Origami comes from from ori, meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper" (kami changes to gami) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD the latest.

Origami was popularized outside of Japan the mid 1900s. It has since evolved into a modern art form. The goal is to to transform a flat sheet of material into a finished sculpture, through folding and sculpting techniques.

The number of the basic origami folds is small, but they can be combined in a varietyof ways to makeintricate designs. The best known origami model, is propably the Japanese paper crane.

* All the information were taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami

Junior Artistic Points of View..

Few days ago I decided to make some research about kids art. 

I strongly believe that kids ability to draw the world as they see it or invision it,

offers us a chance to remember how we used to see the world as chirdren, remember our childish dreams

and try, once more, to see the world from another perspective.

These drawings are made from chidren, age 6-14, for a competition under the title 

"2008  Kids Wildlife Art Competition", in the US.

"Northern Cardinals"

Austin Maynor, age 13

"Meadow mouse"

Billy Chissoe, age 9

"Belted kingfisher"

Dyna Borisk, age 11

"River otter"

Evan Wisniewski, age 10

"Barred owl"

Kalee Michelle Calhoun, age 12

"White-tailed fawn"

Madelyne Brown, age 10

"Southern leopard frog"

Page Reynolds, age 13

"Wood duck"

Sarah Beasley, age 10

*all the drawings and the informations were taken from http://216.27.39.101/WINC/KidsArtCompetition/HM_5th.htm

"Plastic" Art by John Dahlsen

                 Plastics.    We use them daily...
                 Plastic bottles, bags, pens, hangers etc.
                John Dahlsen found another way to use our "wastes". 
                He collected plastics from the Australian beaches and created art 
                using a material that was uncommon to the artistic world.
                Paintings that do not comply to the usual but who could think that things like 
                a plastic bag or ropes could actually offer a variety of uses and colours?  



                                   

"Blue Rope" (triptych)

165 cm x 44 cm (each)

"Sunkist" (triptych)

124 cm x 65 cm (each)

"Y"

40 cm x 50 cm

"Red Plastic Panel"

127 cm x 57 cm

"Coral" (triptych)

124 cm x 62 cm (each)

"Gold Coast"

124 cm x 64 cm (each)

"Labello"

124 cm x 52 cm

Portraying Love

Few days ago I came across some of these photos. And instantly I thought that love has inspired

 thousands of artists and led them to express this feeling in various ways. And its the same feeling

that made me spend enough hours searching for photographs that portrayed love.

 That interpret love, understand love, capturing her into a single moment...

Walt Disney Christmas Cards

Since it's Christmas I decided to make a special contribution to them.

And really the first thing that came to my mind were these lovely

vintage cards with all my favorite disney figures.

So I wish you all Merry Christmas, lots and lots of joy

and playfull mood. 

And lets all remember how it feels to return to our childhood. 

At least that's what I did.