One of the most frequently asked questions we have had over the last few months is “What is the best way to stick patterned or plain paper to an MDF Beyond-the-Page product” ? In this post we describe the method we use which works particularly well for us.
The method we describe is excellent for sticking large areas of paper to BTP projects. You will need a sharp craft knife, a cutting mat and a glue stick. We use the the Kaisercraft Glue Stick which seems to be particularly well suited to this task since it allows repositioning while its wet but sticks very firmly when dry. Other glue sticks will probably work fine although we have not actually tried them.
If you intend to paint the edges of your MDF then this is definitely best done before sticking the paper down. Leave the paint to dry thoroughly before using the glue stick on it.
1. Start by cutting your paper to roughly the right size, leaving about 5mm all around. Place the paper face down on your desk.
2. Now use your glue stick to completely cover the MDF surface. Make sure the glue covers right up to the edges. You don’t need to put any glue on the paper.
3. Place the sticky side of the MDF onto the paper on your desk and press down to make sure it doesn’t move.
4. Turn the MDF over and use your hand to squeeze any air bubbles out of the paper. Make sure that the paper is firmly down all over including around edges (you can use the glue stick to apply small dabs of glue around the edges if you find any unstuck areas). It may be best to leave the item for a few minutes at this point to allow the glue to dry a little.
5. Turn the item face down on a cutting mat and use a sharp craft knife to cut the excess paper from around the edges. Try to keep the craft knife vertical to make sure that the edges are evenly cut.
6. If you wish you can sand very gently around the edges with very fine sandpaper (we use the flat file from the Kaisercraft File Set). Keep the file at about 45 degrees to the paper and only sand enough to remove any rough edges.
7. If you need to make holes for book rings then this may be the time to do it. If you use a round tool of about the right diameter (we generally use a Fiskars Eyelet Setter tool) to push the paper through the hole then you should get a nice even effect.
8. Depending on the paper you’ve used and the look you are trying to achieve you could be finished now. However, if you wish you could now finish the edges with an ink pad. You could just use it to hide any white edges of the paper or you could also use the ink pad to colour the edge of the MDF itself (giving a more subtle colour than paint would normally give).
As an alternative to the above method you could use double sided tape instead of a glue stick but we have found that there is more risk of getting wrinkles in the paper. We would advise against using a wet glue (e.g. PVA glue) since there is a much greater risk of bubbles and it takes a long time to dry.
