Does your decoupage decay in the daylight?
Updated: Dec 14, 2022
A worry customers have about my work is does the decoupaged surface fade in the sunlight. I am pleased to report that I have not encountered any feedback regarding fading from customers to date since I began selling them as finished products in 2016, which is great news! I also have favourite pieces that I have kept to adorn my own home and have not seen any changes in brightness or definition myself. There are various contingency plans I have put in place to make doubly sure work does not suffer in the sun, coupled with some good luck!
Firstly, the commercially printed papers that I use seem to be inherently light fast. I have not looked into this scientifically but it seems that glossy published surfaces come with their own U.V. protection - perhaps someone out there can tell me?! I have my favourite types of paper and stick to using them whenever they are available with the aim of creating a consistent product!
Recently I have purposefully been using a greater paint to decoupage ratio on my surfaces than in earlier work which helps keep things colourful and guards against any potential issues with fading that might compromise the look of a piece. This still creates the visual effect of a decoupaged surface with the bonus being, less decoupage = less decoupage that could fade.
I have additionally been experimenting with various types of U.V. varnish with a greater and lesser degrees of success. There are a number of products I have sourced that you can try if you are making your own.
These tips work for both collage and decoupage but my best piece of advice is have some sympathy with the materials - we are all advised to use factor 50 in the mid-day sun so maybe it's best not to show off your paper art in the conservatory...
If you are curious to know more about my processes, all the details of my materials, techniques, experiments and the development of pieces are available within my Ministry of Mixed Media membership. To access it you will need to sign up to the waiting list for subscription which is opened periodically.
