🖼️
The project:
Add some charm to your home with this 3D texturing hack! This small but mighty project became my ultimate mindful escape. With the help of my 5-year-old daughter for this DIY July, we hacked a basic $10 tube of hardware silicone to create vibrant, 3D "decoden" faux-cream art. Grab a tube of silicone and a piping bag, and soon you’ll be adding a kawaii touch to everything in your world too! In this Part 1, I break down our core mixing hacks across three custom projects—a glass terrarium cottage, an upcycled jewellery box, and a double-mirror upgrade—and link to each project's specific step-by-step breakdown.
- Materials:
Materials:
- 100% All-Purpose Silicone (Clear): Parfix All Purpose Silicone 300g Clear (Note: only available in CLEAR & WA & NZ!)
- 100% Glass Silicone: Parfix 300g Clear (or White) Bathroom And Kitchen Silicone (Perfect for glass surfaces, use as a white silicone base or an alternative if you can't find All-Purpose Clear).
- Important Safety Note: For any projects housing live animals or fish, always use an aquarium-safe trade option like Selleys 310g Clear Glass Silicone Sealant.
- Fine 240-Grit Sandpaper: Flexovit 115mm x 1m 240 Grit Painted Surface Sandpaper Roll (A total must for roughing up slick items so the silicone has something to grip onto).
- Masking Tape: Paint Partner 24mm x 27m Thick Masking Tape (6 Pack) (Your absolute best friend for capping open nozzles and protecting raw canvas boundaries).
Workbench Protection: Everyday baking paper or a plastic drop sheet.
Cleanup Supplies: Glitz 2L Cleaning Vinegar, a Nylex 500ml Trigger Garden Sprayer, and heavy-duty paper towels by Hercules. [all from Bunnings]
Colour & Decorations*:
- Pastel powders, mica powders, pigments, or dyes! (Avoid acrylic paint as the water content acts as a catalyst and makes the silicone seize up too quickly inside the bag).
- Fine craft glitters & chunky glitters.
- Polymer clay sprinkles.
- Charms, embellishments, or cabochon style pieces of all shapes, colours, and sizes! From flatback rhinestones and alphabet friendship beads to vintage buttons and old Crocs charms. (Just stay away from paper decorations as they will degrade and go greasy in the silicone over time).
(*Design Tip: You can score these fun decorating pieces from the craft section at stores like Kmart, Officeworks, Spotlight, or Red Dot Home! Bunnings even carries great timber accents like Boyle Wooden Craft Shapes and the Boyle 165 Piece Plywood Alphabet Letter Set).
Your Project Canvas: Just about anything! If you want some easy practice pieces to test your color mixes and piping skills first, warm up with a plain jar lid, an old terracotta pot, or a blank craft canvas. For a great upcycle project, check out your local op shop—that's where I found the thrifted jewellery tin tray I "kawaii-fied" later in this series! {watch this space!}
https://www.bunnings.com.au/parfix-300g-white-bathroom-and-kitchen-silicone-white_p1232690
https://www.bunnings.com.au/selleys-310g-clear-glass-silicone-sealant_p1234951
https://www.bunnings.com.au/flexovit-115mm-x-1m-240-grit-painted-surface-sandpaper-roll_p1210525
https://www.bunnings.com.au/paint-partner-24mm-x-27m-thick-masking-tape-6-pack_p1667532
https://www.bunnings.com.au/glitz-2l-cleaning-vinegar_p4460483
https://www.bunnings.com.au/nylex-500ml-trigger-garden-sprayer-500ml_p2961993
https://www.bunnings.com.au/boyle-wooden-craft-shapes_p0037715
https://www.bunnings.com.au/hercules-paper-towel-250-sheets_p0469524
- Tools:
- Standard silicone caulking gun (used strictly to load the bags)
- Disposable pastry piping bags (you can get them at Coles!)
- Plastic open-star icing piping tips (usually they come with the piping bags)
- Craft tweezers
- Popsicle sticks, disposable utensils or even chopsticks!
- Disposable cups or an old yoghurt tub (cleaned of course!)
- Rotating craft turntable (Optional — allows you to smoothly spin your project as you work, ensuring a continuous, fluid piping motion without needing to physically touch the frame or risk smudging the wet silicone!)
https://www.bunnings.com.au/uni-pro-skeleton-caulking-gun_p1670517
- Step 1:
Welcome to the World of Decoden & Kawaii Chaos
If you are completely new to this style, the history and terminology are half the fun! The word "Decoden" started as a popular street fashion subculture trend in Japan during the early 2000s. It is shorthand for "decorated denwa" (denwa meaning "phone" in Japanese), originating as a maximalist way to bling out old-school flip phones with fake whipped cream, rhinestones, and toy charms.
Today, the style is defined as pure "maximalist, kawaii chaos." Kawaii (pronounced kah-why-ee) is the Japanese word for "cute," "adorable," or "lovable"—a massive global aesthetic celebrating everything sweet, soft, pastel, and innocent. You will frequently see anthropomorphic objects in this craft, which simply means giving human characteristics (like adding tiny winking eyes or smiling blushing cheeks!) to non-human things like clay fruits, stars, or little cookies! Squeezing out ordinary bathroom sealant and watching it turn into an absolute fairytale wonderland has brought so much happiness to our workbench.
- Step 2:
The In-Bag Mixing Rule (Avoid the Cup Method!)
When it comes to tinting your silicone, we tested multiple methods so you don't have to!
- The Waste Warning: We originally tried squeezing the silicone into a plastic cup and stirring it with a popsicle stick. Do not do this! The silicone is so incredibly sticky that a massive amount of material gets permanently trapped on the walls of the cup and the stick, resulting in huge waste and a giant mess.
- The Winning Method: Stick strictly to the Mess-Free 'In-Bag' Method. Prop your heavy-duty piping bag open inside a large glass, inject your 100% silicone straight down from the caulking gun, add your pastel pigments or dyes, and massage the bag thoroughly from the outside. It mixes perfectly with absolutely zero waste and (nearly) zero cleanup!
- Step 3:
The Anti-Skinning Tape Protocol & In-Bag Refill Hack
Silicone begins reacting with moisture in the air immediately. If you leave a loaded piping bag sitting on the bench for even 10 minutes while preparing your canvas, a thick layer of cured "skin" will form inside the nozzle, completely blocking your star tip and ruining your stream. Always wrap a tight piece of painters tape completely over the open tip whenever you set the bag down to seal out the oxygen.
If you run out of color mid-project, don't panic! Simply drop your nozzle tip into a fresh, clean outer piping bag, gun new clear silicone directly into the tail of your existing color bag, add a touch more pigment, and massage it through. It saves your tips and keeps the project moving fluidly.
- Step 4:
The Double-Bag Burst Protection
Hardware silicone is significantly thicker and heavier than standard bakery buttercream frosting. The sheer amount of manual hand pressure required to squeeze it through a fine-toothed star nozzle will easily blow right through the seams of cheap, single-ply plastic piping bags, creating a massive explosion all over your hands. Always double-bag your setup: place your metal or plastic nozzle inside a primary bag, drop that entire bag inside a secondary structural bag, and tape the top joint securely to reinforce it against the pressure.
- Step 5:
The Chunky Glitter Rule
If you want to add an ethereal shimmer to your projects, clear all-purpose silicone loaded with glitter creates an incredible crystal-ice look. However, you must stick strictly to ultra-fine iridescent glitters. Large, chunky hexagon glitters or metallic shapes will instantly jam up the tiny teeth of fine-toothed French star tips (#8B) or micro star tips (#18), causing the bag to back up and burst. Keep the glitters microscopic and save the heavy pieces for surface embedding!
- Step 6:
The Horizontal Workaround
Gravity is the ultimate enemy of heavy silicone ridges. Whether you are working on slopes, columns, or circles, always lay your canvas completely flat on baking paper or a plastic sheet spread over your workbench. Let the peaks set flat so they stand immaculate without slumping or sagging.
- Step 7:
The Cleaning Vinegar Nozzle-Save Protocol
Never, ever try to wash wet silicone down your household sink—it will instantly destroy your plumbing! Cleaning your fine-toothed metal or plastic piping tips seems like a nightmare, but we discovered a brilliant cleanup workflow using everyday household items that worked a bloody treat:
- The Paper Towel Core-Push: Fold a piece of heavy-duty paper towel into a tight, narrow strip. Push it firmly all the way through the wide end of the nozzle and out the tip to clear the massive structural plug of wet silicone out of the center.
- The Cleaning Vinegar Spray: Fill an empty spray bottle with standard cleaning vinegar. Liberally spray a fresh piece of paper towel until it is damp, and use it to wipe down the outer teeth of the tip. The acetic acid in the vinegar safely breaks down the sticky silicone residue effortlessly.
- The Vinegar Wrap: Give the metal tip itself one direct spray of vinegar, wrap it up tightly inside the vinegared wet paper towel, and leave it to sit. This keeps the remaining microscopic film inside the channels from curing, allowing you to easily peel or poke any remaining clear bits out later!
- Step 8:
Where to Find the Project Breakdowns & Resource Hub* LINKS COMING ASAP
Because each material required an entirely different mechanical preparation and engineering approach, I have broken the specific step-by-step guides down into separate threads so they are easy to follow:
- [Link to Thread A] Candy-Look "Pinkhouse" Greenhouse - Silicone "Decoden" 3D Texturing [Part 2]: Learn how to do a flawless internal watertight seal using trade glazing methods, wrap integrated fairy lights, and see how a rainbow collection of rubber bands and my daughter's handmade decoden treats saved a major hardware mishap!
- [Link to Thread B] Ocean Jewellery Tray Makeover - Silicone "Decoden" 3D Texturing [Part 3]: Discover how to prep a metal surface with silver spray paint, protect the hinges, and use a palette knife to swirl independent blue and white mounds into a Taylor Swift-meets-Mermaid Barbie ocean landscape.
- [Link to Thread C] Round Craft Mirror Updo - Silicone "Decoden" 3D Texturing [Part 4]: Check out our round mirror masterclass! I break down our modified outside-in ring workflow (piping the outer wave ring first, peeling the protective vinyl, laying the inner rim right over the raw plywood-to-glass seam, and finishing the center with a fluid zigzag motion), embracing a beautiful accidental white-to-purple ombre color shift, and setting kawaii pearl stars with my daughter!
🍰 Real Talk: My Inspiration Resources & Video HubFull disclosure: I am definitely not a professional bakery piper, and controlling a thick silicone piping bag takes serious muscle memory! To learn the core manual hand movements, double/triple-piping color lines, and clean-up secrets, check out these incredible creators who helped my brain wrap around the technique:
- The Original Mirror Design Layout: Watch diy fake cake mirror | perfect gift idea by anna the rat to see the viral layout that inspired our pastel mirror project!
- The Squishy vs. Hard Whip Explainer: Watch Q&A while i decoden! by lilah to learn the absolute texture differences between commercial decoden clay kits (which dry rock-hard) and hardware store silicone (which stays perfectly rubbery and squishy!).
- The Ultimate Pro Consistency & Wrist Guide: Check out BEFORE you start PIPING you HAVE TO DO THIS! by Cakes by MK to learn how to mix out air bubbles with a spatula and use your wrist for flawless, steady border circles.
- Mastering Bag Pressure & Holding Positions: Check out Piping Tutorial! Learn How to Pipe To Perfection! by Georgia's Cakes. It is essential for learning how to use your palm muscles rather than your fingers to extrude smoothly.
- The Ultimate Tip Clean-Up Protocol: See Decoden Phone Case Tutorial by Mintyholic for the original paper towel wiping inspiration that got us started.
🧠My Quick Piping Cheat Sheet:
- For Continuous Waves/Shells: Hold your piping bag angled forward at about 45 degrees. Squeeze with steady hand pressure, guide the bag forward along your line, ease off the pressure as you drop the tail of the wave, and immediately start the next wave right on top of it in one fluid motion.
- For Star Dollops/Puffs: Hold your piping bag completely vertical at 90 degrees, aiming straight down. Hover just a millimeter above your canvas, squeeze to let the star puff out to your desired size, stop squeezing completely, push the tip a microscopic fraction down into the wet dollop to break the suction, and then snap the bag straight up. This is the secret to getting a beautiful sharp peak without stringy tails!
- Step 9:
A Note on Mindfulness
But far beyond the budget-friendly home decor upgrades, the real victory of this project was the hours spent sitting at the table with my daughter. Messing up our color mixes, laughing over exploding piping bags, and carefully setting pearl stars together turned an incredibly heavy year into a beautiful, slow, mindful sanctuary. D.I.Y. isn't just about building things for your house—it's about building the space to breathe, connect, and bring a little bit of sweet, squishy chaos into your life. And after a tough year, a little sweetness goes a long way!
Thank you so much for following along with our July journey! Drop any questions below about silicone properties or tip styles, and happy crafting!
