I’ve always asserted that with WoodUbend and Posh Chalk there’s something for everyone. Plenty of people – including myself – use them on big, grandiose furniture flip projects. However, as many of you know WoodUbend and Posh Chalk really do lend themselves to DIY crafts. There’s a lot you can do in not a lot of time. This particular project for example was completed in around an hour and started off life as a humble piece of MDF board.
Decoupage & DIY Crafts
As with many of our DIY crafts, the Posh Chalk Deluxe Decoupage would form a focal point of the project. This meant painting the board in a lighter colour. Unless you’re specifically trying to tone down the colours on a decoupage design, you’re going to want to apply your paper to a light background. This means that the colours will pop!
So, the first port of call was to paint the board in a coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, giving us the light background we needed.
Now that the MDF was sufficiently light, it was time to trim the decoupage paper. All the Posh Chalk Decoupage papers come with a border which will generally need removing. It’s a simple process, you can either slice it with a craft knife or – my personal favourite – simply draw a line with a wet paint brush and rip the paper. 
Ripping it gives the edge a rough, organic feel which makes it much easier to blend out if your incorporating your paper on a large piece of furniture for example.
Once the sides were trimmed it was time for the decoupage to be applied to the surface. Firstly a coat of the Posh Chalk Infusor was applied, then the paper was laid on slowly and methodically. This is quite an important stage of the decoupage process, it’s the time when you’re looking to avoid any creases. As the paper is rugged and robust, it can be removed and replaced quite easily. Simply hold a section down with a dry paint brush, peel back a little, pull it taught and replace – no more creases!
Once satisfied that the paper was clear of creases, a secondary coat of Posh Chalk Infusor was applied over the top; this seals the paper, protecting it. As the Infusor is very quick drying, it was a case of waiting for a minute or two before we could turn our attention to the pre-eminent heat bendable decorative wood mouldings, WoodUbend!
The great thing about using WoodUbend for DIY crafts is that you can alter and combine designs to create a whole new one – this is precisely what we did with the new 6079 pilaster and TR718 designs.
The trim and moulding would be combined to create a pillar at one side. Two lengths of trim were measured, heated and sliced with a craft knife – they would make up the column and the 6079 moulding would form the top and the bottom. As always, the WoodUbend was heated and adhered to the surface using a good quality wood glue. As often is the case with DIY crafts, things didn’t go perfectly, one of the pieces of 718 trim was cut a little short.
With WoodUbend trim, this isn’t an issue as they stretch! Yep, once heated the trims can be stretched around 10% of their length without distorting the pattern. This has proved to be a life saver on more than one occasion!
Next up was the sizeable 6069 WoodUbend moulding, this would create the focal point of the right side. Also a new design, the 6069 is one of the 3rd generation WoodUbend mouldings, so it’s quicker to heat up, features a crisper design and is easier than ever to adhere. Even though the moulding is super simple to glue to the surface, we still had to follow the basic WoodUbend rules – heat, glue then heat again.
When adhering WoodUbend, often excess glue will squeeze out from either side. This is not an issue. In fact, it’s a good thing, it means the moulding is sticking really well to the surface. When working with intricate designs like the 6069 design, it’s not always feasible to remove the glue with a baby wipe – luckily a wet paint brush or cotton bud will work just as effectively.
With speedy DIY crafts on the mind, we took the decision to prepaint the 6069 moulding. Yep, you can pre-paint the WoodUbend mouldings prior to heating and bending as long as you’re using a flexible paint…or paste. The Red Alizarin Posh Chalk Metallic Paste to be exact.
Pre-painting your moulding is a great way to speed up DIY crafts as you’re not losing time focusing on clean lines when painting, simply paint the moulding and apply it to the surface, no fuss, no mess (well apart from your workbench).
The last of the 3rd Generation WoodUbend mouldings to feature on this project was the TR702 flexible wood trim, this trim would complete the border by making up the top and the bottom. As with the TR718, the trim was heated, measured and sliced with a craft knife – though feel free to use scissors or even tear the thinner trims.
Now that all the WoodUbend was on, it was time to raid the cache of Posh Chalk again to bling up the borders and posh up the pillars.
As the 6069 moulding was painted in a deep red colour, the Red Medium Cadmium Posh Chalk Aqua Patina was used to highlight aspects of the moulding. As this is a lighter colour, it was perfect for adding a little depth to the design. Complementing the Aqua Patina was the Pale Gold Patina, this was used to add a bit of glitz and glamour, picking out the leafy parts of the corner moulding.
DIY crafts…done the Posh Chalk way.
In a similar fashion, the Brown Van Dyke Posh Chalk Paste was used as a base from the TR702 trim, before the Pale Gold Patina was employed to pick out the finer details of the intricately designed trim.
Be it furniture flips or DIY crafts, I love texture. So it comes as no small surprise that I love the Posh Chalk Textured Pastes. The Textured Pastes are similar to the Metallic Pastes except they’re infused with Swarovski Crystals, giving an irresistible textured finish.
So, for the pillar we created, the Pearl White Textured Paste was used to create a subtle, textured metallic base before reaching once again to the old faithful, Pale Gold Patina, to really add some glam.
There we have it DIY crafts don’t have to be fiddly and time consuming, this piece of wall art was created in less time than it took me to write this blog!
Until next time…
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