August 11, 2011
What The Heck Is Mod Podge?!!
Never heard of it before until I found some awesome craft ideas that require to use it. Since I have about three such projects on my to do list, I went out and bought it. I still don’t have a clue what it is exactly, mostly because we don’t have a similar thing in Germany. Anything that I cannot compare to something familiar I grew up with automatically falls into the category of unexplainable weirdness. Anyway, it glues and it seals preferably paper or fabric onto other surfaces. And that’s all I need to know for now. So I went ahead and did a little mod podge project in half an hour of my evening.
Here is why:
And here is how:
1. Save some empty baby formula and coffee containers
2. Cut some pretty scrapbook paper of your choice into strips of the height of the can from the top metal rim to the bottom metal rim. I went with this modern floral pattern to stay within the neutral colors of the kitchen, but lighten things up a little.
3. Apply mod podge with a (sponge) brush to the paper or to the paper AND the container. Do not apply it only to the container as the paper will start wrinkling once it starts to soak up the podge from the can. This is the part where you can learn from my mistakes.
4. Glue the first couple of inches of one end of the paper onto the can and make sure that it aligns parallel with the top and bottom rim. Then wrap it tightly around the rest of the can and smooth it out by stroking with your hands. (Sorry, no pictures for these two steps as I needed my hands and they got all moddy).
5. If the diameter of the can is more than a foot, you will need another strip of paper to fill the gap. If you want to be perfectionistic about it, you can try to match the pattern, but I chose imperfection and just cut a random piece which will sit at the back of the container and stare at nothing but the wall.
6. Apply an even layer of mister moddy podgy over the paper surface. Let it dry and apply another one. And another one, if you want to be extra safe.
7. If you keep the containers in a splashy area, you can probably go ahead and finish them off with some poly spray. This is on your own risk though. I haven’t tried this yet, but I assume that the awesome podge seals the paper sufficiently so that the poly wont harm it.
All done!