Four Ways to Fix Serviettes to Paper

These days serviettes have made it out of the dining room and into our craft rooms. And small wonder, considering the vast range of beautiful serviettes available on the market. Serviettes are being used on all sorts of surfaces and I have blogged about some of these before. Today, I want to focus in on paper as a surface. There are numerous paper crafts that can benefit from introducing serviettes to them. I especially had art journaling in mind when I did this blog, but you can use it in cardmaking, scrapbooking, etc. I show you four different ways in which to fix serviettes to paper in today's blog. You choose which will work best for your particular project.

Decoupage
The first method we will be exploring is traditional decoupage. You will need modge podge, or Dala Acrylic Gel Medium. I prefer the last and usually use this acrylic gel medium. You will also need a brush, paper and your choice of serviettes.

Coat your paper with the acrylic gel medium.

Separate the serviette from its backing.

I wanted a rather distressed finish and accordingly decided to tear the serviette in half. This was also done, because the serviette had a directional motif. I could, however, have opted to cut it instead. The serviette pieces are laid on top of the wet gel medium.

Do not rub the serviette too hard, or it will tear.

Paint another coat of Acrylic Gel Medium on top of the serviette to seal it. Leave it to dry completely.

Once it is dry, I trim the edges with my scissors.

The finished product warbles a bit.

I did a second serviette that would end up looking less distressed.

I once more remove the backing from the serviette.

The paper is painted with the acrylic gel medium.

The serviette is carefully laid on top of the paper.

A second layer of Acrylic Gel Medium is painted onto the serviette. It is left to dry.

The edges are trimmed. This is easier to do if you turn the paper face down.

The finished product is still a bit wobbly, but the serviette is fixed permanently.

Plastic Wrap
Our second method involves using plastic wrap. This time you will need some plastic wrap from the kitchen, scissors, serviette and paper.

Remove the backing paper from the serviette.

Because my serviette has a directional motif, I cut it apart to make sure that all of the buildings will stand upright.

I lay my paper on a hard wooden backing. Then I layer a sheet of plastic wrapping over the paper.

The serviette is lain on top of the plastic.

I then place the whole plank on top of my ironing board. The ironing board is padded and the background is too soft. That is why I put this on top of a plank. I put an ironing cloth between my iron and the serviette to prevent plastic melting onto my iron.

I then set my iron the warmest setting and iron the serviette onto the paper by melting the plastic. Be forewarned. You need to keep the iron in one place for quite a while to melt the plastic. This is rather time consuming.

This is what the paper looks like once ironed.

I trim the edges with my scissors.

This is what my final product looks like. Not quite flat, is it?

Wood Glue

 For the third method I use inexpensive wood glue to fix the serviette to the paper.

Remove the backing paper from the serviette.

I am once again working with directional motifs and divide the serviette in two.

I then decide upon an alternative outlay and divide the serviette further into quarters.

I test the layout to see if I like it.

I then glue the paper a quarter at a time.

I use my fingers to smooth the glue ridges. You may choose to use a brush?

The first quarter is laid in place.

Do not rub the serviette, or it will tear on the wet glue!

I complete the rest of the layout one quarter at a time.

It is then set aside to dry.

Once dry, I trim the edges.

This one too is a bit warbled.

As all three of the methods discussed above, leaves a warped product, I decide to address the issue.

I cover them one at a time with an ironing cloth and lay them on a plank to iron them flat.

Set your iron to hot.

 Spray Adhesive
 For the last method, I will be using rather expensive spray adhesive. This gives by far the best results, but it is also the most expensive of the options. That said, it is also the quickest method.

Remove the backing paper from the serviette.

Spray the paper with the adhesive.

Carefully lay the serviette in place.

Trim the edges.

This is certainly the best results for the day.

Here are the serviette-covered papers side by side for easy comparison.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy her books here:You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

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