Recommended Reading

Warning: You are infringing copyright if you sell things using the work of still-living artists. You are OK if you are using them for your own use or gift-giving.

Decoupage

Singleton, Nerida. A Passion for Decoupage. Lots of advice on *how to* and beautiful pieces with the process described. As always, Nerida makes it sound easy.

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Singleton, Nerida. Decoupage Fairies. Do this project step by step with Nerida or use it for inspiration.

Singleton, Nerida. Divine Decoupage. Complete and easy to follow instructions.

Singleton, Nerida. Paper Enchantment: Decoupage & Wrapping Papers.

Singleton, Nerida. Nerida Singleton’s Romantic Papers.

Singleton, Nerida. Nerida Singleton’s Decoupage Project Kit Book: With Images, Papers and Projects.

Lade, Val. 18th Century Decoupage. Lots of advice on *how to* and many beautiful pieces with the process described. Some background colour combinations to try.

Lade, Val & Singleton, Nerida. Decoupage with Painted Backgrounds. This is a good reference for colour mixing. Instructions are easy to follow.

Raymond, Audrey. Traditional Decoupage. A variety of styles are explained. Great inspiration and comprehensive instructions.This is the book that taught me to do illumination and cloisonne. It was easy!

Sloan, Annie. Annie Sloan's Decoupage - A Step-by-Step Course. Has decoupage on glass instructions, decoupage on metal leaf and some discussion of hand colouring and free cutting.

Painted Finishes

Bennell, Jennifer. Painted Finishes. Learn how to paint faux finishes to enhance your decoupage.

Driggers, Susan Goans & Baskett, Mickey. Painted Finishes for Walls and Furniture: Easy Techniques for Great New Looks. Try an interesting background to add depth to your decoupage pieces. Or try your hand at doing decoupage on a large piece of furniture that you’ve painted.

Art Books - Sources for Pictures

Barker, Cecily Mary. The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies. This collection contains the Fairies of the Spring, Fairies of the Summer, Fairies of the Autumn, Fairies of the Winter, Fairies of the Wayside, Fairies of the Tress, Fairies of the Garden and Flower Fairies. In Australia, it costs $80 but once you have it you can use colour photocopies forever. These fairy pictures are popular with little girls. I use them frequently on small items like hair brushes, mirrors, and trinket boxes.

Barker, Cecily Mary. The Flower Fairies Decoupage Book. This book has a couple of the flower fairies repeated on the pages along with separate little flowers repeated also. It was meant for paper tole but I use it because the extra flowers are very useful.

Boulet. Susan Seddon. Shaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet. Lots of inspiration here for trays, platters and plates.

Boulet. Susan Seddon. The Goddess Paintings.

Boulet. Susan Seddon. The Power of the Bear.

Boulet. Susan Seddon. Unicorns: Paintings by Susan Seddon Boulet.

Brill, David. Brilliant Origami: A Collection of Original Designs. Japanese origami papers are exquisite. I use small origami squares for small objects and large sheets for trays and platters. I paint the back with white gesso because the papers are somewhat transparent. You could also use titanium white. I use metallic gold quilling strips for borders and gilding for accents.

Calendars – check out the calendars. They are wonderful sources of images. You can sometimes pick up last year’s calendar for $5 or less. I usually can’t wait that long for the object of my desire.

Dye, Daniel Sheets. The New Book of Chinese Lattice Designs.. If you are hand-colouring or doing print-room style, some of these will be useful.

Giftwrap. Do a search on the word Giftwrap at Amazon. There are a lot of themes to choose from.

Leek, Michael. The Art of Nautical Illustration. These illustrations of old sailing vessels are good for masculineprojects.

Massenglae, Jean Montague. Jean-Honore Fragonard. Fragonard’s paintings are romantic and delicate and appeal to women. Who can resist The Swing?

Morrison, Venetia. The Art of George Stubbs. Stubbs specialised in horses. He painted lots of men on their horses and horses alone. If you are looking for something very masculine to decorate a gift for a man you will no doubt find something here. I have made several boxes with Stubbs’ paintings, combining them with simple borders and crackled paint finish.

Racinet. Racinet’s Historic Ornament in Full Colour (Series I and Series II). Both worth having as artistic reference.

Swanson, Vern Grosvenor. John William Godward This is one of the Pre-Raphaelites. Very good reproduction and lots of useable pictures.

Tibbetts, Jean. Erté Wonderful reproduction of some of his most famous works.

Wakefield, David. Fragonard.

Wood, Christopher. The Pre-Raphaelites. This is full of romantic images. I use them over and over and never tire of them.

Illus by Kay Nielsen East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Published by The Folio Society 2000.

Illus by Edmund Dulac Perrault's Fairy Tales. Published by The Folio Society 1998.

Illus by W Heath Robinson Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales. Published by The Folio Society 1995.

Illus by Detmold Arabian Nights. Published by The Folio Society 1999.

Illus by Arthur Rackham Grimm's Fairy Tales. Published by The Folio Society 1996.

Where do you want to go?

THE PROCESS~~~PREPARATION~DESIGN~ SUPPLIES~FINISHING~IRON ON~ FURNITURE~STYLES~HISTORY

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES~~~CLOISONNE & ILLUMINATION~GILDING~ UNDER GLASS~WORKING ON EGGS

OTHER SUBJECTS~~~VICTORIANA~CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS~ CANDLES~SHELL JEWELLERY~

RESOURCES~~~READING~CRAFT SHOWS~TIPS & TRICKS~ DOWNLOADS~STEP BY STEP PROJECTS~ LINKS~DECOUPAGE PAPER~ STEP BY STEP PROJECTS

EYE CANDY~~~VISIT THE GALLERIES~MODERN~18TH CENTURY~ORIENTAL ~EVERYDAY~EGYPTIAN