Customisation / Upcycling

I already introduced this subject in the two previous posts. When speaking of giving a new life to objects with paper, I usually refer to customisation or upcycling (with paper).

For me paper customisation / upcycling  involves 2 activities:

- upcycle an (old) piece of cardboard (postpackage, shoe box...)  and shape the material to create an object, such as a frame, a box, a bookcover,  a home decoration piece and even furniture and then decorate it.

- use an existing object made of paper or any other material, such as wood, a tinned box, a basket... and use paper to revamp it.

I do both as I love creating as much as I enjoy decorating and give a personal touch to a piece.
As far as the decorating process is concerned, I upcycle using stamps, collage, scrapbook...depending on the object, its purpose, who it is for and my inspiration of the moment.
Scrapbooking technique, which roughly consists of cutting patterned paper, fix them on an object and add other bits and bobs (buttons, flowers, rub-ons...) to finish up. I usually use this technique on objects with a regular, straight shape.
I also use the decoupage technique to cover objects with patterned.
The Decoupage technique consist of decorating an object with patterned tissue paper or with napkins. In order to cover the surface avoiding creases (especially for rounded or uneven shapes) it is advised to tear up tiny pieces and to arrange them one by one. If you use napkins,it is very important to separate the layers and only use the first one (the one with the patterns). If you don't do so, the layers will inevitably got loose by applying the glue.
I'll share more exmples in coming posts.

Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.