One of the most important things about decoupage is preparing your surface to take the paper and glue Surfaces

Glass - Wash glass with warm soap and water.  Dry well.

Metal & Tin - Wipe with damp rag.  Some metals require a sealer, than can be purchased at your local craft store.  Most craft stores carry pre-primed metal.

Wood - Sand with fine grit sand paper.  Apply wood sealer.  I like Delta's all purpose sealer. Sand again.

Terra-cotta - Terra cotta from your craft store are usually pre-sealed.  Most terra cotta from your home stores need to be sealed.  I like applying a coat of Kilz, water based sealer to my terra cotta.

Lets talk about papers

Regular Paper - most decoupaguers use regular paper that can purchased at your local stationery store. The images must be printed on a laser-jet printer or a toner based copier.  Ink based copiers and printers are not permanent and the images will run with application of glues.  Epson does make a inkjet printer which uses permanent inks, which some decoupageurs use.  Regular paper is heavy, and you will need to soak the paper in water prior to applying.  It also is not very pliable around surfaces.  Regular paper also leaves a raised image due to the thickness of the paper.  In order to get a smooth surface you will need to apply  several coats of varnish, sanding between, to get your surface smooth.  These steps, and the lack of bending is the reason I wanted an easier paper for my projects and to teach with.

 Tissue Decoupage Paper - Bends easily around corners, requires only one or two coats of varnish, has a sheer translucent quality, works best on light colored surfaces, and is so easy to work with.  Because our papers have less cotton lintier their application is slightly different than regular papers.  You don't have to wet our papers like you do regular papers so you save an entire step. You paper will curl when glue is applied, but will flatten within a couple of minutes, now your paper is relaxed and ready for your surface!   **Here are the five simple steps to creating art with our Tissue decoupage Papers

                           1) Cut your image
                           2) Apply glue to back of tissue decoupage paper, let paper relax and uncurl,
                                about 30 seconds
                           3) Apply glue to surface, using your fingers add your tissue decoupage paper,
                                make sure your fingers have glue & water so they don't stick to image. Let dry.
                           4) Seal front of image with another coat of glue, varnish, or a combination of both.
 

Lets talk about glues

Most decoupaugers will use different glues for different surfaces.  Others stay with the same glue they like.  I prefer Elmers Glue-All.  Its inexpensive, it dries clear, and is durable.  Elmer's is a heavy glue, so when you decoupage with our tissue papers, it is best to slightly water down your Elmer's.  I also use Elmer's to seal my images on the surface prior to varnishing.  You can varnish with either a Satin, Gloss or Matte Varnish.  This way you can avoid those pricey glues that come in matte and gloss.   

We have lots of projects, tips, tricks and instructions in our How-To section!