Cut out your own shapes in wood to create painted personalized decorations!

A word of advice : stick to simple shapes.

Use plywood (quarter to half inch thickness). The advantages of using thin wood include ease of cutting and lightness, meaning the item can be hung on a wall without a nail.

Ideally, for the cutting, use a scroll saw, which has a very fine blade, allowing it to cut curved forms.
A jig-saw is less easy to use in curved cutting but can nevertheless make a cut that can then be finished by filing or with sandpaper.

A light sanding down of all surfaces followed by brushing with a small brush or paintbrush is necessary.

For the fish shown here, we used gouache paint, which didn't run even when applied in a damp room. Acrylic paint gives you brighter tones.

To paint the fish, start off with a base color and add 3 or 4 similar shades to create this monochrome effect.