How to Make a Large Handmade Box using Burning and Decoupage

Glad to welcome all lovers of craft and especially those who are not indifferent to the decoupage. My name is Elena Tukaeva and today offer you a DIY on decorating a large box. The most affordable and easy wood to work with is pine.

To decorate a box, you need:

- blank pine box
- plywood "pad" with the thickness of 4 mm
- printed image of bread (decoupage card of suitable size)
- acrylic paint: white, burnt umber
- Acrylic Hobby de Luxe paint: ivory, hemp
- Tair decoupage glue for hard surfaces
- Tair mat acrylic varnish
- Tair glossy acrylic varnish
- water stain, colour Rosewood
- gas burner and gas cylinder
- metal brush, brush with plastic bristles
- instant glue
- synthetic flat brush, bristle flat brush, sponge, scissors, wide tape, sandpaper of fine and medium grit, pressing roller, paper towels, stationery file, cotton gloves

Start with firing. For burning, I used a gas burner (torch) put on a tank of gas. It is important to keep the torch upright and not to shake it. In order to char all surfaces twist and move the blank and not the cylinder. I burn all not touching the middle.

Burn to black coal to reveal the wooden texture. Slightly burn inside.

After firing start brushing. First, use coarse metal brush: necessarily work along the fibres so as not to damage the solid layers of wood.

Then perfect the surface with a smaller metal brush.

Clean out the charred wood with the plastic brush.

Reveal furrows with medium-grained sandpaper, folded in half.

Remove all dust with a damp cloth. Let the workpiece dry.

Apply white acrylic paint to the sides of the brush bristle from the center to the edges. The center is coated properly.

After drying, sandpaper raised naps of wood and apply another coating layer of white paint.

After drying, you can perfect the surface with sandpaper again.

On the side of the box will be decoupage printouts. Printing is made on a laser printer. This is important, because prints made on simple paper may flow. I thin paper before gluing and do it with tape.

Smooth tape on paper with a plastic card or rubber spatula.

Remove the tape and you may repeat it 3 times.

To better attach the paper, soak it in water. Spray water on the file and put the printout on it.

Leave it for 1-2 minutes.

Soak the excess of water with a paper towel.

Apply glue on the printout.

Without removing the picture from the file, place it on a side of the box and smooth it at first hands from the center to the edges and then carefully, press it with a rubber roll.

Gently remove the file from the image and cover the printout again with glue while it is wet.

Begin to decorate the wooden piece.
Cover one side with white acrylic paint using wide synthetic brush.

After the first coating layer dries out, sandpaper the rising naps and coat ones more.

Apply glossy acrylic varnish on the front side of the image and on the wooden piece.

Immediately attach them and press with the roller, removing all air, leave to dry for 2-3 hours.

To reveal the image, moisten the printout with a damp sponge and gently crumble the paper with fingertips.

In the process of rolling paper, the picture dries and it is clear that there are still paper fibers.

Again wet the picture and do the same

The edges are painted burnt umber with the sponge.

Slightly age the picture, sandpapaer it and cover with 2-3 coats of matte acrylic varnish with intermediate drying.
Go back to the sides of the box. Use medium-grained sandpaper to remove extra paper of the printout.

And slightly age the image.

After identifying the texture of the wood from under the print, cover the image with water stain and then remove it with a paper towel. Thus I shade the picture and bring it closer in color with the whole box.

To make your box more interesting and additionally reveal the surface, I apply a small amount of Acrylic Hobby de Luxe acrylic paint, Burlap colour, remove the excess paint with a paper towel and slightly work with dry brush over the surface of the boxe, paying special attention to corners.

Let the paint dry and cover the inside part of the box with 3 layers of mat acrylic varnish with intermediate drying between the layers.

After the final drying, glue the wooden piece t the box and admire the result.

I hope the tutorial will be useful for you and will help to learn some new things, come across new ideas!!!

Sincerely yours,

Elena Tukaeva