Supplies

Products

Sealers

Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish – This product can be used to seal pieces, to seal papers, to seal your design when you’re finished, to glue small pieces of paper in place. Go to the Liquitex website and read about their products. Click here.

ModPodge – This product can be used to seal pieces, to seal papers, to seal your design when you’re finished, to glue small pieces of paper in place, and to give a buildup of clear varnish over your piece before you apply real varnish. I do not recommend this product any more because I have found that it stays spongey and doesn't harden properly.

Varnish

Whether you use oil-based or water-based varnish is dependent on how you want the finished piece to look. Both types of varnish come in matt, satin, and gloss finish. Oil-based will yellow your piece which gives it an old feeling. This is alright for warm colours.

But if you are using cool colours or bright colours and want them to remain bright or the way they looked when you painted them, then water-based varnish is required. Water-based varnish dries clear and does not yellow at all.

Liquitex now produces a water-based varnish. This should be available where you buy Liquitex products. Here in Australia, I use Wattyl Estapol or Feast Watson for oil-based varnish.

Paint

There is a wide variety of paints available to you for decoupage.

Liquitex – Some decoupeurs use these colours because they are artist’s pigments. They are thick and rich in colour. Go to the Lquitex website and read about their products. Click here.

Matisse – There are Flow Formula paints for folk artists and Structure paints for artists. The Structure series has some great colours. I use this brand and series a lot. They come in tubes or in jars. It is more economical to buy by the jar. The "Background" paints are quite dense and cover well. They contain sealer so you don't have to seal first. Go to the Matisse website and read about their products. Click here.

Jo Sonya – These paints come in tubes and there are a great variety of colours available.Go to the Jo Sonya website and read about their products. Click here.

DecoArt – They come in small plastic bottles and there are a great variety of colours available. Go to the DecoArt website and read about their products. Click here.

Others – You can use the sample paint pots of house interior paints, either oil-based or water-based.

Don’t be afraid to mix your own colours! But stay within a product range (eg don't mix Matisse and jo Sonya).

Brushes/Sponges

You will need some sponge brushes. You can buy these at the craft shop or artists supply shop. Kmart sells a range of sponge brushes with plastic handles which seem hardier than the wooden handled ones from the craft shop. You will need a fine liner brush for touching up. You will need a natural sea sponge.

Gesso

Liquitex and Matisse both make white Gesso. Matisse also makes coloured gesso. To use this product, apply about 5 coats. Dry sand lightly between coats. Wet sand the last coat until it is as smooth as silk. Then seal and paint.

Tack Cloth

A tack cloth is an open weave cloth saturated with linseed oil. You can buy these at craft shops. It is used to remove lint and dust between coats of varnish.