Using Mod Podge as a Sealant and Topcoat for Paper Quilled Jewelry – Part 4 – Loose Roll Flowers

Here is part 4 of my Mod Podge series!  If you haven’t read the others in the series yet, here they are so you can catch up first:

Part 1 – The Different Finishes

Part 2 – Tight Rolls

Part 3 – Moderately Tightly Rolled Designs (Tight Flowers)

Over the past couple years I have gotten a lot of questions about Mod Podge, so I’m glad to finally be sharing some info and photos for those who want to use it with their paper quilling.

In the previous posts I have showed what all of the different finishes of Mod Podge look like on the completed pieces.  But for today’s post I decided just to use the original matte.  I had bought a Mod Podge Starter Pack with small bottles of 5 different finishes.  A great idea if you are not sure you want to use Mod Podge or if you want to try different finishes before buying a big bottle of your favorite.

All of the Mod Podge finishes behaved the same, some were just more glossy than others.  So today I am focusing on how to correctly use them on loose rolls.  You know, the tricky ones!  It can be so delicate and beautiful to make your quilled jewelry with loose rolls or coils, but it is NOT so easy to put sealant on them without getting them misshapen.  But as you can see in this photo below, it is possible!

I have written one post already to show how to apply sealant so that your coils don’t open.  Click here to read that post.   I was using a thin sealant in that post, though, which is a bit different than a thick one.  So hopefully this post will help those who are using thick sealants like Mod Podge.

The rule is still the same – use several THIN layers.  I’ll show you exactly what a thin layer looks like! To apply a thin layer I dip a small paintbrush into the Mod Podge, dab the excess off on the edge of the bottle, and brush a VERY thin layer onto the flower as you can see in this photo below.  As you can see, in some places you can’t even see the sealant at all, and in other places you can see it a tiny bit.  This is what it should look like.  Apply this amount, let it completely dry, flip it over and repeat on the other side.  You’ll need to do this same thing again on both sides (so two or three THIN layers on each side) and then you can do a thicker layer where you dab your brush into the spaces to get the Mod Podge everywhere.  Don’t have too much Mod Podge on your brush when you do the last layer, though, or you’ll have clear gobs of Mod Podge dried inside your flower petals.  If this happens you can use a toothpick or needle tool to wipe out the excess Mod Podge before it dries.

Below are two flowers that have too much Mod Podge on them.  The left has somewhat too much, and the right has WAY too much.  Mod Podge, like most sealants, is water based, and it soaks into the paper  (though it doesn’t totally soak in the way a liquid sealer does).  So if you put too much Mod Podge at once it will make the paper soggy which will open the coils.  If you only put on a tiny bit like in the above photo it dries before the paper gets soggy, thereby keeping the coil in place!

To show you what happens when you dab on the amounts shown above, here are the three flowers.  The one on the left already has several THIN layers.  The other two are the same flowers as you see above, except that the Mod Podge has mostly dried.  You can easily see how the coils are more open in the one with too much and way open in the one with way too much Mod Podge.

I’ll be writing one more last post about Mod Podge, summarizing all of the posts and letting you how I think Mod Podge rates as a sealant.

If you have any particular questions about Mod Podge, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer!

View all of the Mod Podge posts here:

Part 1 – The Different Finishes

Part 2 – Tight Rolls

Part 3 – Moderately Tightly Rolled Designs (Tight Flowers)

Part 4 – Looser Rolled Designs (Loose Flowers)

Part 5 – Overview and Conclusion

Stick around and check out some of the other fun stuff on the blog!

Click here to view FREE paper quilling tutorials!

Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!

Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!

Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!

*All products and supplies in this post I purchased on my own.

*This post contains some affiliate links.  If you purchase products through the affiliate links I get a small percentage (at no extra cost to you!).  I only link to products that I believe in and/or love to use myself.  Thank you for supporting my blog!