This text contains over 70 decorative projects for small items of furniture and other home accessories. They feature traditional and modern techniques such as decoupage, papier mache and stencilling, which use readily available tools and safe, easy-to-use materials. The paint techniques described include sponging, ragging, spattering and stippling as well as more glamorous effects like gilding and craquelure. Full instructions for these techniques are given in general terms, as well as for specific objects, so that they are easily adaptable to other projects. Paper is one of the cheapest and most versatile decorative materials, and is now obtainable in a greater variety of textures and colours than ever before. The range of printed material, too, is astonishingly diverse, encompassing giftwrap, glossy magazines, reproductions of paintings and prints, as well as humbler packaging materials and newsprint. All these provide possibilities for a variety of paper crafts, fully outlined and clearly explained in this book.