JOIN USShe masters in decoupage
A nursery school teacher, Sonal R Shah is passionate about craft. However, it was only a year ago, when she was on maternity leave, that she took to craft more seriously.
For someone who has a keen interest in arts and crafts, a break from her regular job helped her find a fresh perspective about her passion. She learned the art of decoupage.
“I learned the art by watching videos on YouTube. Getting a hang of it was easy for me as I always had an inclination towards crafting. Besides watching YouTube videos, I learned a lot by trial and error. I also attended a few workshops which helped me get into the details,” says Sonal.
She makes decoupage bottles, nameplates, fridge magnets, explosion box and bookmarks. She is also interested in paper crafts and Warli art.
Looking at her detailed and clean work, Sonal soon started getting requests from her close friends and event organisers to make pompoms, photobooth props and invites.
“My family and friends have been really encouraging. In fact, my friends keep used bottles for me to upcycle and make home decors for them. I feel really happy and appreciated by their gesture,” she says.
For Sonal, it is important to keep her designs fresh, quirky and trendy, thus, she keeps herself updated by learning new techniques on decoupage.
“Since my baby is too small and needs my attention and care, I find time for my hobby only at night or in the afternoons, when he is sleeping. I easily get six hours every day,” she says.
Sonal turned the balcony in her house into a workspace to work on her pieces and also to conduct decoupage classes.
She chose decoupage as her speciality because she finds it realistic. Sonal says that this art can be picked up by anyone easily even if they don’t have an art background.
Faux leather, MDF and glass are the materials that she uses. There are many different forms of decoupage that she works on like reverse, crackle and resin, but her interest lies in reverse decoupage.
When asked which piece of work is the most challenging, Sonal says, “Decoupage on bottles is the most challenging for me. It takes a lot of patience and detail to get it right. I use gesso, chalk paints, mod podge or decoupage glue, tissues and rice papers for my work.”
Her favourite piece of work are the photobooth frames she made using paper flowers.