Silhouette

Here's an easy peasy craft. Silhouettes are all over blog land just now, so I know I'm doing nothing new, but I thought I'd share my method in case you want to give it a try my way.

I've been meaning to do a silhouette of my little girl for a while now, little did I realise that trying to get a decent side-on photo of her could be so tricky! So, this is your first stage. Get a good profile shot against a light coloured wall.

Once you are happy with your image, adjust the contrast with your photo editing software and print out one the right size for your mount. You might need to experiment a bit to get this just right. 

I have to admit, once I had decided on this image and tried to cut it out, I realised it would look better if her mouth was closed so I printed a few more images until I was happy with the result.

I carefully cut around the edges of the picture rounding off the neck area in traditional silhouette fashion.

I then flipped it over and while it was held it in place with a tiny bit of double sided tape I drew around it onto nice quality black paper with a white sharp pencil.

Then I cut out the black paper, adding some wisps of hair with fine cuts made with tiny decoupage scissors from Tonic Studios. They are ideal for this. I also used my knife to cut out a few bits in the pony tail to make it look more authentic.When I was finished,  I flipped over the black paper and it was the right way round again.

Now it was time to decide on papers for mounting my silhouette. I chose some scrap booking papers and a page out of a vintage encyclopedia. I used the oval Shape mates to cut the apertures for the mount. I decided to do a double mount.

I wish I'd had the Shape Mate a long time ago. I once overpaid to get an oval mount cut for a vintage photograph. Now I can do it myself. (Do remember to use acid free card if you are going to mount old photographs.)

I laid it all out until I was happy with the result and then stuck the lot  together with double sided tape.  

I had an old frame that was a bit scruffy. It was once gold but now faded to a dull brown, so I gave it a couple of coats of artists acrylic black paint. 

I'm quite pleased with the result. I might try a few more now.

Someone else thought it wasn't too shabby either. I do wish I'd brushed her hair before I took this photo !!!