I just love the graceful look of silhouettes. Simple and elegant. Here are a few ideas on how to create your own beautiful and timeless art. The photo above was my first inspiration found at perfectbound.blogspot.com
FIRST: Take a digital photo of the persons profile against a white background (wall) then enlarge images on a photo copier. Basically, take the image to Kinko's and have them enlarge the photo and print it on think paper. Color is not necessary. Take the enlarged photo and trace outline with a skinny black sharpie marker, and then cut out the silhouette pattern carefully. Attach the silhouette pattern photo to a black piece of card-stock by either taping it or gluing it with Perfect Paper Adhesive. If you tape it, I recommend you trace the image onto the black paper with a white colored pencil. If gluing it, you just carefully cut the black card-stock around it. Now you have your black silhouette! If you decide you want a plain white background for your black silhouette, glue the silhouette to white foam core board and attach to the back of a frame with glue or a staple gun.
FRAMES:You can usually find square, round & oval wood frames in the wood craft section of Hobby Lobby for super cheap. From there you can either paint the frames or cover with fabric.
Painting suggestions:
1. Paint all black to make the black Silhouette pop
2. Use leftover paint in your house!
3. Paint them an accent color in the room the will be displayed in. (ex. you have hints of red in the room)
4. Spray paint. It is cheap and comes in so many color options.
5. Crackle paint. Choose two different paint colors—an undercoat that will show through the crackling, and a top coat color that will be the crackled paint. Apply the undercoat color & wait a few hours. Apply the crackling medium (clear sealant) and wait 1 hour. Apply the top coat thickly for more crackling or thinly for subtle crackling.
Covering with Fabric:
1. To cover an oval frame, simply wrap with ribbon, and use a staple gun to attach at the top, bottom, and sides.
2. To cover a rectangular frame, brush front of frame with glue and cover with fabric. Once glue has dried, cut an X in the fabric, spanning from one inside corner to the other. Fold fabric inside to the back side of frame, and then staple in place. Trim away excess fabric.
* The example photo below (curiosity of Rebecca Bull Reed from Southern Living) shows the oval frames wrapped in wide plaid ribbon
and plaid fabric (at least 3 inches larger than the dimensions) for rectangular frame.
A whole other fun idea is to apply the silhouette to a plain old oval wood cutout. These are also found at Hobby Lobby for super Cheap. Paint the whole oval a color of choice and glue a printed background on before attaching the silhouette. Black is a good paint option since only the outside oval will be visible. Making it look like a frame. Find your favorite printed background have it printed on scrapbook cardstock. You can do this at Kinkos as well. Make sure it is the same size of the wooden ovals. Trace the front oval (on the front of the wood cutout) onto the printed cardstock. Quickly apply a thin, even coat of the Perfect Paper Adhesive all over the top of the wooden oval. Center and press the oval paper onto the wood. Repeat, applying more adhesive over the entire oval paper and center and press on your silhouette cutout. If you apply your adhesive too thick, it will wrinkle and pucker your silhouette, so keep it thin! Allow to dry and apply another coat all over the frame, including the wooden sides. Allow to dry and apply more coats of adhesive as desired.
This example below was created by fellow Blogger, Modest Maven
I did however take some interesting silhouette photos last February. The boys and I were busy playing on our back deck. Really, we were soaking up the beginning warm rays of the Spring Sun. When I noticed how prominent our shadows were against the outside walls of our house. They came out neatly enough. H1 was almost 4.5 and H2 was 10 months. By the way, that is a flower I am holding. Not a meat skewer like my friend Lisbeth once thought. ;P
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