KLANG: The moment you step into Ida Azrina Zainal Abidin’s home, you see a burst of abstract floral designs made from her collection of paper napkins neatly and creatively arranged in every corner.
For the uninitiated, the napkins come from Germany and are the main item in découpage which is the art of decorating objects with cut-outs which Ida Azrina pastes on wood, plastic, porcelain, metal, bottles and various other recyclable materials.
Ida Azrina, 49, from Taman Kapar Indah, said she has accumulated a collection of more than 3,000 napkins of various designs and sizes which she also sells online – such as on Telegram – under her brand name, Saudagar Tisu.
The housewife, who also holds découpage classes, said she buys the napkins to sell to her customers – who also découpage – as a business that is now becoming a trend.
Tracing her journey in découpage, Ida Azrina said it all began 10 years ago when she started buying various books on the subject and learning from a well-known découpage teacher in Ampang until she mastered the craft and began receiving orders from others.
The mother-of-six said that découpage has a high potential to generate income because those who are interested in it can develop their creativity through various techniques on different surfaces or desired objects.
“The demand (for découpage) now is quite encouraging and lately, people want to découpage tiffin carriers,” she told Bernama.
Ida Azrina said that as demand increased for her products, she also started receiving requests to teach the craft online. Presently, she holds face-to-face classes.
Her daily schedule is pretty tight as she holds classes for groups of individuals like housewives, single mothers, civil servants and college lecturers.
She is also grateful that she is being approached by students from neighbouring countries such as Brunei and Singapore, who are interested in her face-to-face sessions.Civil servant Hasnita Ibrahim, 54, who joined Ida Azrina’s classes before, said doing découpage was therapeutic and allows her to be creative. Besides that, it teaches her to be more focused because every step in the process requires precision.
“The découpage process starts with sandpapering the surface of a selected material, such as wood or plastic, followed by smearing gesso (special paint) and leaving it to dry before applying a glaze.
“Patterns will then be cut, pasted and varnished in the final step to make it waterproof,” she said.