Decorative Art Papers

Posted in Decorative Art Ideas on 08/26/2009 08:26 am by admin

decorative art papers
How do I shellac a table with art beneath? ?

Our dining room table has been our school table for 10 years, our dinner table for 16 years and a place to socialize for forever. It is a good strong and sturdy table, but the top has seen the worst for wear. I would like to cover the face of the table with an atlas and other maps and such as well as a Decorative framed multiplication chart, a couple of paper rulers, etc so that it looks neat but the paper is protected. I have never done anything like this. I would assume there is sanding and such, but I would love step by step instructions on the actual steps leading to the finished product like sanding, what kind of paint to use, do I use glue for the paper maps and other items before painting the table? Thanks so much for your help!

This is a quite wonderful idea, interesting and extremely creative. It would make a memorable and lovely dining room that speaks of the past and the present. There is a process in art called decoupage and you might do some research on that process, it is in effect the laying down and gluing and covering of pieces of paper, cloth and various materials form an overall piece of art. Decoupage is very often used on trunks, boxes and furniture as well.
There will be different sorts of considerations, the maps and paper if old will have a high acid content, in other words a tendency to yellow. You might consider de-acidifying them before they are attached to the table. As far as glue, there are now products out there that do not yellow or destroy what they are meant to stick to.

If you sand the table, which you should for proper adhesion of the paper, you would need to bring the surface down to bare wood everywhere. Three sandings of coarse (50) medium (100) and fine (200 to 250) grit sandpaper. Each sanding requires that you remove all of the sawdust completely, after each sanding. If the table surface is uneven, put three layers of sandpaper on the sanding pad, it will help with the uneven surface. Remove sawdust with a strong vacuum cleaner and then go back 45 minutes later and vacuum again. Each sanding after the primary coarse sanding is simply to remove the marks left from the original sanding.
Shellacking the table is a good idea after glueing everything down, as an artist who works with lots of glues and types of paper there are very few glues that do not yellow and crack or damage surfaces. I would opt for simple carpenters glue under the maps and then weight everything down for a day.

Of course the easiest option is to have a piece of glass cut to fit the table and then you would not have the work involved in sanding and using a protective coating of something over it all. Although the surface of the table would no longer be very comfortable to rest your arms on.

Once the paper and other things are glued to the table, without anything sticking up then you would begin the covering process. Shellack or urethane would have to be considerations and several layers with sandings in between. Much of it depends on what you choose for the final covering process. I have refinished many pieces of furniture over the years and this step is the most time consuming, it must be carefully done. Do some research on this process and also on decoupage, it will aid you in the final step. Good luck.

Cavallini Decorative Art Papers