Decoupage cutting boards for beginners

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Decoupage of cutting boards is very popular due to the low cost of the necessary materials and the ease of work in this technique. Such a product looks good in the interior of the kitchen, as the design is selected individually, for any style. Boards can be used not only for decoration, but also for cutting food on them, if the varnish coating is thick enough.

How to choose the right workpiece

The first step in preparing for the decoupage of a cutting board is the choice of a workpiece. It is very important to choose the right material for the job. The time that the product will serve the owner largely depends on its quality, how evenly the motif will lie and whether it will look neat. If the item is decorated as a gift to a specific person, before starting work, it is advisable to find out in what style his kitchen is decorated in order to choose the right pattern and shape.

Varieties of board materials

Boards arewooden and plywood. Wooden ones are divided into those made from solid wood and from glued beams. Plywood boards have one important advantage: their moisture capacity is several times lower than that of wood. The very structure of the wood is designed to absorb moisture from the soil and the environment, therefore, objects made from it cannot be kept in the sink and in other damp places, otherwise they will swell and lose their shape. If the decoupage of the cutting board is done as a gift, it is worth warning the person presented about this feature of the material.

Features of plywood and solid boards

Plywood products last much longer. Solid wood boards are practically not found in mass production, so they can only be purchased at various needlework fairs. They are made from linden, birch, oak and other trees of Central Russia. Oak is considered optimal for decoupage of a cutting board - it is durable and less hygroscopic than other species. It is undesirable to choose pine wood for work, as it has a specific smell and releases resin. The advantage of solid wood boards is that, unlike glued beams, they will never come apart at the seams. When choosing a glued beam, you should also focus on the cut, keeping in mind that the surface will bend in the direction of annual rings. It is better to choose plywood of 1 grade and a thickness of more than 1 cm.

Basic wood defects

It is important to keep in mind that cutting boards contain wood waste thatunsuitable for construction. In order to choose a material that will last for decades, it is very important to be able to navigate the quality of wood, sawing options and the main characteristics of wood.

There may be various defects in solid wood boards, which are usually removed from glued beams:

• frost cracks;
• wormholes;
• wane;
• blue;
• risks;
• adhesive pockets;
• core;
• bitches.

When the wood is not properly dried, cracks and rot occur. Boards with wormholes do not need to be taken, since such a surface is very difficult to level. Unjoined and rotten knots are an indicator of the poor quality of the tree.

Features of cutting wood

The quality of the board also largely depends on the cut. Radial is considered the best, when annual rings run perpendicular. It is taken from the middle of the log, so the product will not bend. The most unfortunate option is a tangential cut - this is a board from that part of the trunk that is closer to the bark. The farther from the center of the tree the material is taken, the less suitable it is for decoration. It is best to choose a tree with a high density: birch, oak, ash. Aspen is well suited for carved boards. Another important indicator is the moisture content of freshly cut wood. It depends on it whether cracks will form during drying. Birch is also the leader in this indicator - it is the driest.

Basic materials for decoupage

For decoupage, napkins or decoupage cards are most often used, but for cuttingboards it is best to use prints, independently choosing the desired size and pattern. In this case, you can completely cover the entire surface without leveling the motif and sinking it. You can glue on anything: PVA glue or for decoupage is suitable. Paints for painting should be chosen so that they can withstand sanding. To protect the surface, various acrylic varnishes are used, including building ones. Aerosol varnish may cause smudges.

Decoupage cutting board for beginners

For beginners who are still unfamiliar with the decoupage technique, you can start with a quick way to decorate a cutting board. For this you will need:

• wooden board;
• roller;
• yacht varnish;
• tassel;
• scissors;
• linseed oil;
• gouache paints;
• white spirit;
• print printed on office paper;
• sandpaper of various grits.

Before you start decorating decoupage cutting boards, the surface must be leveled with coarse and fine sandpaper. This will allow you to draw better. When using the classic decoupage technique, most of the time is spent on drying the layers of varnish and primer, and after each layer the surface is treated with emery. Also, if there are small dents on the surface of the board, a layer of latex or acrylic putty is applied, and then the board is primed with acrylic paint in several layers until a smooth white surface is obtained. But the use of yacht varnish allows you to speed up this process andavoid additional drying.

Quick decoupage of cutting boards with your own hands consists of the following steps:

1. Preparing the print. We cover it with a layer of varnish so that the base is well saturated.
2. Yacht varnish dries approximately 1-4 hours. During this period of time, the brush must be placed in white spirit so that it does not dry out. After drying, we process the surface of the board with emery.
3. At the next stage, we start applying the motive. Cut it out and apply a layer of varnish to the surface of the board.
4. Apply the drawing, straighten it and roll it with a roller, moving from the center to the edges. We try to fix the corners well.
5. Make a hole in the print with scissors and a brush. We cut a hole with scissors, and put the handle of the brush inside and scroll.
6. Emery process the edges, removing excess paper. We do not touch the edges of the hole yet. Dry the surface for several hours.
7. When the board is dry, remove the excess paper in the hole with sandpaper and process the surface again.
8. Paint on the background and paint over the ends to match the motif. To do this, you can use gouache.
9. Dry the board again and cover the surface with varnish, after adding a little white spirit to it.
10. After the board dries, once again process it with sandpaper and apply the last layer of varnish. We dry, remove all smudges of varnish from the working surface with emery and soak it with linseed oil.

After this treatment, the board can be safely washed and usedfor cutting food. In the photo, decoupage of cutting boards made in this way is indistinguishable from the “classic” one.