How to decorate wooden boxes with napkins

Do-it-yourself never goes out of style. Wooden boxes to decorate with napkins? Yes, we’ll show you how to give a new life to that box you’ve been using for some time.

When you do activities with your hands you have a double benefit: You will get a unique new product and you will feel the pleasure of doing something without the help of anyone.

In addition, you can save money and solve a need of your own, a family member or anyone you know.

Decorated with napkins

The napkins, besides being a useful implement that serves to clean us, are an ally when doing DIY.

There are many crafts you can do with used objects and napkins. Here we will show you a few.

The so-called napkin technique, when well applied, gives a finish similar to a hand painting. Without a doubt, this is one of the benefits of using this technique.

Decorate wooden box with napkins

The first thing you have to do is to completely clean the wooden box.

You can do it with alcohol and a cloth. The idea is to remove all traces of dust, dirt and grease that might be present in the box.

Then, we pass a very fine sandpaper over all the surfaces that we are going to cover with our paper napkin designs.

After sanding the area to be treated, clean it again with a cloth and a little alcohol.

The napkins are made up of several layers. We will only use the layer that is printed with the selected motif.

While the box is drying, we start preparing the napkins.

You have several options: tear them with your hands, cut out the sections of the motif you want to use or use the whole motif, without making any cuts.

Regardless, the subsequent process will be the same.

Place some white vinyl glue in a container and rinse it under running water. The idea is to make it run easily.

Apply a thin layer of glue to the entire surface you are going to work on.

Before the glue dries, place the napkin in the desired position.

To finish the first part of the process, “paint” the napkin with the mixture of white glue and water.

Let it dry completely.

When the box has dried, give it a coat of clear varnish. Let it dry according to the manufacturer’s instructions and apply another coat, painting in the opposite direction to the first one.

Wait until the box is dry before using it or wrapping it as a gift.

It will be a beautiful box decorated with napkins.

Decoration of other surfaces

This technique for decorating wooden boxes with napkins can be applied to other surfaces.

You can also use it for do-it-yourself work on pieces of various materials, such as cardboard and glass.

In all cases, the steps will always be the same:

1. Clean the surface.
2. Prepare the napkins with the motif.
3. Stick the napkins in the desired arrangement.
4. Allow to dry.
5. Cover with two coats of transparent varnish.
6. When it is completely dry: Enjoy!

Decoupage: technique to decorate wooden boxes with napkins

The use of napkins or decorated papers in DIY has a name: Decoupage.

The term is derived from the word découper, which in French means to cut out.

The idea is to cover surfaces with materials decorated in a way that resembles a hand-made painting.

The decoupage was born in the Europe of the Middle Ages and continued its development until the Renaissance.

In the 1970s, the technique arrived in the United States and took on a new boom, earning it a place of honour that it occupies – quietly – to this day.

Here is a video where you will see the steps to follow for the execution of this do-it-yourself technique.

Beautifully decorated napkins

To do all these activities you need paper napkins with printed motifs.

In the paper napkin section at Monouso, your online shop for food industry products, you will find a wide variety of decorated napkins.

Styles and colors that will support your do-it-yourself afternoons with napkins.

In case you need a unicolor napkin to decorate wooden boxes with napkins, but with the shades that are in trend, we also have them in our paper napkins section.