Decoupage

Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cut outs onto it. Usually an item such a small box or tray is covered with cutouts from magazines or papers manufactured for use in decoupage. The item is repeatedly varnished until the stuck on appearance disappears.  Traditionally this technique took 30-40 layers of varnish which was finally sanded to a polished finish.Today there are glues and varnishes available that reduce the number of layers required to get the same look as the traditional technique.