One of my goals before Jex came home from Australia was to clean and organize the study. Before project "study cleanup" (lame name, I know. I just came up with it.) only around 30-40% of the room was usable, the rest was a dump with stuff that built up over the years. I am proud to say that I was able to complete project "study cleanup" and now 90% of the room is usable. I do not have permission to touch the other areas so I'm leaving them as is.
It took me under two weeks to sort through the stuff, organize, and clean up the room. Of course, I did it during the two weeks just before Jex arrived. Cramming just makes me more effective, haha. To motivate myself throughout the project I stopped whatever side projects I wanted to do and promised that I could go back to crafting after I finished cleaning the room. I just bought Mod Podge and I was so excited to work on my first washi and mod podge project. I decided to start on something small and not so important, in case I screw something up.
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| Phone case |
I've been washifying my phone case ever since I
discovered the
wonders of
washi tape thanks to my friend
Eula. I've applied two washi designs since I first washified it and one of the reasons I change the tapes is because the tapes eventually rip or get snagged. After some research I decided to try Mod Podge.
Mod Podge is every decoupage crafter's friend as an all-in-one glue, sealer, and finish. I didn't think I could find Mod Podge in Manila but they're actually available at
Lasting Impression and
Deovir. I got the Hard Coat variety and the Glossy Paper variety from Deovir. I actually bought the Glossy Paper variety by mistake because I thought that all varieties of Mod Podge were water resistant. After some more Google-ing I found that only specific varieties were water resistant, and one of them was Hard Coat. Some of the projects I had in mind needed to have a more durable finish so I got the Hard Coat variety as well. I'm saving the Glossy Paper variety for indoor projects.
After removing the previous washi tapes and cleaning up my phone case I applied new washi tapes. I chose bright colors to offset the black base of the case.
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| First coat |
After reading and re-reading the instructions I started the Mod Podge step. I poured out a bit of Mod Podge in a small plastic cup. First, I used a foam brush, which I got from National Bookstore. The foam brush makes a streaky application of Mod Podge. I couldn't figure out how to make a smooth application so I left it streaky. I let it dry for 20 minutes and applied the next coat.
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| Dry first coat |
Mod Podge looks and smells like Elmer's glue. And just like Elmer's glue it applies white but dries clear. The streaks are very obvious after drying so I decided to apply the next coat in the same direction as the tapes (diagonally). I thought it might not look as bad that way. After another 20 minutes of drying the case had visible vertical and diagonal streaks. Haha, ohwell.
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| Third and final coat |
Hard Coat Mod Podge is usually used for furniture so around 3 or more coats are recommended. My phone case isn't furniture, but since I put it on top of different surfaces and it gets exposed to moisture (sweat from being in my pocket) a lot I put on 3 coats. For the third coat I tried using a small brush and it looked better than when I used the foam brush. Not that much better, but at least there are no streaks! I think I just need more practice with applying Mod Podge. More crafting projects, yay!
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| Final product - streaks and all |
I let the third and final coat dry overnight (around 12 hours) before I used the case. Mod Podge dries on the surface within 20-30 minutes but letting it set for a couple hours more is recommended so you're sure that it's fully dry. The instructions for Hard Coat actually recommends a 72-hour curing period, but that's applicable to furniture, which need more hardy surfaces.
It think this was a pretty successful first try at Mod Podge-ing and I'm really looking forward to the other projects I have in mind. I just need to figure out the streaky application thing. Any suggestions from those who've used Mod Podge before?
