Little Things Mean a Lot of Dots

This was the first decoupage project I completed for my class back in May, which I meant to post much earlier. I think of it more as an "art" project rather than decoupage, as it doesn't consist of layers of paper. What I most like is that it has a fun sense of self-reference, borrowed from French trompe l'oeil.

Inside with actual bow tie

The box is clear hard plastic, which is generally a good surface to decoupage. I photocopied the top and bottom of the bow tie itself, cut them out, and used acrylic gloss medium to attach them to the box.

Then, my teacher came up with the great idea of spray-painting the inside of the box silver.

Inside

Next, I placed another photocopied image of the bow tie on the inside top and bottom of the box.

For the final step, I used the tip of a pencil and dipped it in burgundy acrylic paint to apply dots to the outside top and bottom of the box — and voilá!

Top

Bottom