Mod Podge + Recycling = Home Decor

This time of year many people get gifts wrapped in tissue paper, and most of the time it ends up in the trash. Why not recycle into a beautiful piece of home decor or if you are a crafter that vends, booth decor? In a few short hours you can have a rather nice piece of decor that looks far more valuable that what it once was. 🙂

You will need:
Metallic acrylic paints; in my project I used gold, bronze, copper and forest green mixed with the gold acrylic.

Mod Podge Matte and Gloss

Stickles Glitter Glue from Ranger (I used Tropical Tangerine)

Craft sponge (I used one and washed it between uses)

A glue of some sort that work well with paper and plastics, any tacky glue will do

Several sheets of tissue paper (the more crinkled and scrunched the better)

Curtain weights (look for old curtains, they often have weights at the bottom to help them hang better, remove the weights and use the curtains for table covers)

Papier-mâché form of some sort, boxes, shapes etc. (I used Papier-mâché jewelry display torso and a three piece box set you can get them at JoAnn Fabric stores retail or Darice at wholesale)

Start with your unpainted papier-mâché form, remove any slight imperfection with a light sanding if need be. Remove all dust and particles from the piece.

While the jewelry display shown is weighted from the inside, it often is not enough weight to keep the form upright if you put a heavy piece of jewelry on it. I glue a curtain weight to the sides of the form to give it some more heft to keep it upright.

Make sure your tissue paper is really crinkled and scrunched up. Tear up all of your tissue paper into ruff squares. Apply to your Papier-mâché form with Matte Mod Podge, making sure to get some good crinkles and lines forming, overlapping each piece of tissue paper.

I ended up using 4 sheets of torn up tissue paper to completely cover the papier-mâché form properly. You must let the Mod Podge dry completely before going onto the next step. I let it sit overnight, once dry it will have a slight luster and be rock hard.

Now you can start applying the acrylic paint. Using the craft sponge dab on spots of paint, in this case I started with the metallic gold. Let each layer dry before adding the next color.

Next I applied the green paint mixed with the gold. Make sure to get all of the spots of unpainted tissue paper you missed with the first layer of paint. Let that dry and apply more layers of metallic paint in the bronze and gold acrylic paints, remember to dab the paint and not brush it on.

Using your fingers or a smooth small sponge apply a small amount of the metallic copper paint only to the bumps and ridges of the tissue paper. Less is more so apply in small amounts to have better control of how much ends up being highlighted. Let dry.

Now using the Stickles Glitter Glue trace all of the crackles and bumps on the piece. If you feel it needs more draw little cracks and lines. The Tropical Tangerine color shows up the best on the warm metallic color paints.

To protect the piece and to make sure no glitter ever gets rubbed off apply one coat of Gloss Mod Podge. You will notice the colors will “pop” more and make the form have a beautiful finish.

Same technique on a three piece papier-mâché box set from Darice.

Until next time Safe Travels and Happy Crafting!