How To Make Still Life Flowers Decoupage Tray Table

Flicking through the many interior accounts I follow on Instagram, I’m always fascinated by everyone’s gallery walls. Many of gallery walls are made up of several pictures and paintings framed in different sizes. I also notice a trend for still flower images.

Painted flowers on a dark background seem to be a popular element of these gallery walls. This gave me the idea for an upcycled flower decoupage tray. The tray is featured in the A to Z of clever upcycling ideas.

On my own gallery wall in the living room, there is a large old still life painting of flowers on dark background. I picked up my painting from my local junk shop very cheaply. It is a copy of some vintage floral still life masters. I haven’t been able to identify which one so far.

Free Antique Still Life Flowers Paintings To Download

The Dutch Masters of the 17th Century were well known for their wonderful floral still life paintings. These were painted on a dark background often with other objects in the paintings such as insects and animals.

I have curated a collection of vintage floral still life paintings that are free to download.

You can download and print out these still life flower paintings to frame for your own gallery wall. However, these images are also great for flower decoupage crafts and DIYs.

Following the collection of free vintage floral still lifes there is a craft tutorial. It shows how to make a pretty upcycled flowers decoupage tray table using one of these floral still life paintings.

To download the painting you want for either your gallery wall or flowers decoupage, just click on the title above the image. The download will be of a higher resolution.

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The Still Life Flowers Paintings

1. Maria van Oosterwijck – Flower Still Life (flower decoupage image)

Maria van Oosterwijck was a Dutch Golden Age painter, specializing in richly detailed flower paintings and other still lifes on dark backgrounds. The floral still life was painted in 1669 and the image I used for my flower decoupage tray (tutorial at the end of the post).

I picked this painting for the flowers decoupage because I loved the brightly coloured flowers and the extra detail of the insects within this still life.

2. Clara Peeters – A Still Life Of Flowers In a Roemer

Another Dutch master still life. Clara Peeters was probably the most famous Flemish woman of the 17th century. I love the added interest of the field mouse and ear of wheat in this painting. The glass vase of flowers is also stunning.

3. Alexander Adriaenssen – Still Life of Roses

Still life of roses in a glass jar on a stone ledge with a butterfly by Alexander Adriaenssen. Alexander Adriaenssen was a Flemish Baroque painter, born in Antwerp in 1587. He was particularly well known for his still-lifes of fish and game pieces but he also sometimes painted flowers.

4. Carstian Luyckx – Still life of pink, yellow and white roses

Carstian Luyckx another Flemish 17th-century painter from Antwerp famed for his still lifes. Still, life of pink, yellow and white roses hanging from a blue ribbon with a red admiral and a cabbage white.

5. Andries Daniels – Vase with Tulips

Sill life of a vase with tulips. Andries Daniels a 17th-century Antwerp painter known for his still lifes. In particular still lifes of flowers in flamboyant vases, and flower garlands.

6. Jan Davidsz de Heem – Vase of Flowers

Jan Davidsz de Heem is a major representative of both Dutch and Flemish Baroque paintings. Vase of flowers 1645.

7. Ambrosius Bosschaert – Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge

Ambrosius Bosschaert a Dutch golden age painter from Antwerp. This painting stands out from the other 17th-Century Dutch floral still life paintings, with a bright background.

8. Jan van Huijsum – Flower Still Life

I love this Dutch floral still life as it the flowers aren’t in a vase and the butterfly is a beautiful addition to the painting.

9. Marrel, Jacob – Still-Life with Flowers

Jacob Marrel a German still-life painter active in Utrecht during the Dutch Golden Age. The still life with flowers was painting in 1650.

If you liked the still flower paintings with insects, then check out these stunning Maria Sibylla Merian prints. And the calligraphy prints of Joris Hoefnagel who was a great influence on the work of the Dutch Masters.

Tutorial For An Upcycled Flowers Decoupage Tray Table

What You Need For Flowers Decoupage Tray

• Old round tray – the one I used was 39 cm in diameter
• Legs for the tray table – I used some extra large old wooden thread spools
• Flower decoupage print out – you can download the one I used here.
• Mod Podge – decoupage glue
• Foam brushes
• Acrylic varnish sealer
• Spray paint
• Gorilla Glue

How To Make A Flowers Decoupage Tray Table

1. From all the Dutch master still life images above, I choose the first one. That was the Maria van Oosterwijck Flower Still Life. I uploaded the image into Canva (a free image software program).

In Canva I chose a canvas that was slightly bigger than my tray (40 cm). I then added a circular frame from the elements menu. I sized the frame to fit the whole canvas. Then I simply dragged and dropped the uploaded floral image into the frame. I then downloaded and printed the image for the flowers decoupage.

You can use Canva to make a round image for decoupage using any of the floral images above and to any size you need.

My home printer doesn’t print on paper large enough for a 40 cm round image. I just got my local print shop to print out the image for me. The great thing about using a print shop is that they use laser printers. With laser printers, the ink won’t smudge when applying sealer. Whereas sometimes with inkjet printers, the ink will smudge, this can be remedied with artist fixative (or hairspray).

Download the round flowers decoupage image here.

2. Using a bright yellow paint I spray painted the old round tray and legs. It doesn’t matter what colour you paint the top of the tray as this will be hidden by the flowers decoupage.

3. Next, I carefully cut out the round floral design. The image was slightly bigger than the tray. It is easier to work with a slightly larger image when decoupaging on the round and then to trim it later.

4. Using a foam brush then cover both the top of the tray and the back of the flowers decoupage image with Mod Podge. Make sure you cover all the surfaces, especially the edges.

4. Next, carefully place the flowers decoupage image on top of the tray. Screw up some kitchen towel or a paper napkin into a ball and then cover this with plastic wrap. Use this ball to press down the image to the tray and squeeze out the bubbles to the edge of the tray, where they can escape.

The tray I used, had a slight lip. I found that if I snipped the floral image every couple of inches around the edge it was easier to lie the image flat to the tray.

5. Once the decoupage glue has dried. Turn over the tray and using a craft knife cut away any overhanging paper. To protect the tray from spills I covered it with a varnish sealer.

6. Finally, the last thing to do is to attach the legs to the tray. I used Gorilla Glue for this. To use the glue I dampened both the top of each leg and the underside of the tray. A small amount of glue was then added to the top of the leg before it was placed on the tray.

Whilst the glue is drying, weigh down the tray to help with the seal. The Gorilla Glue forms a small foam that works really well and providing a strong adhesive.

I love how the flowers decoupage tray turned out. It’s just the perfect size to have next to the sofa outside for my drink.

There are lots of other fabulous images on Pictureboxblue that would look wonderful decoupaged on a tray like these vintage rose illustrations from old gardening catalogues or the prints from the Temple of flora.

Or you can use them to make decoupage placemats or DIY tile coasters. If you want florals on a lighter background check out these vintage floral patterns.

• The Amazing Parrot Paintings of Edward Lear
• Watercolor Fruit Images
• Woodland Vintage Botanical Prints
• Vintage Cactus Paintings

Maps would also look fabulous as a tray table. Check out my map collection here to see if you can find a special map for a decoupage project.

For other upcycled crafts visit cheapandthrifty.com.

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