Have you ever sat down and defined your style? Taken a test to reveal your style? My thoughts match any test I have taken. I am a Classic/Modern style. I like the core of the classic or traditional homes. I like that a house feels like a house! Does that make sense to anyone besides me? On the other hand, I like the edge-y style of Modern with crisp lines.
Well, as a kid in elementary school we had these school wide evenings where your family would come to the school and you would play games and get tokens and win prizes and all that jazz and it was the best EVER! The art teacher was even there. The art teacher would look at your profile and cut out (with just her hands and scissors mind you) on black construction paper your silhouette. I LOVED it.
To me a silhouette is a classic piece to add to a home. Since we don’t have kids (yet), our fur babies are our babies and seemed like the perfect subjects to bring this classic art into our home. I had the idea for our small bathroom on the first floor. I had some shelves there that over time, the slight vibrations from the garage going up and down (just on the other side of the wall) the items on the shelf would undoubtedly slowly shift over time until one fell 🤦🏽♀️.
So I decided to simplify that bathroom and eliminate the falls and a little less dusting to do. I found these circular frames on Amazon that balanced the rectangular mirror. I have never replaced the light fixture here either from the builder grade materials. It works in this space and just not ready to spend money on that.
So with the help of my husband, Patrick, we go the dogs to took in the correct direction and could snap some photos of their profile to start this little art project. With the dogs having so much fur and little details, I decided to go the tech route and use my Adobe Photoshop (self learned through youtube video after youtube video and still have rough skills lol), but if you are down for the task you could choose the low tech route or even if its a human over a dog it would be even easier with some scissors.
If you are looking for the low tech route, here are some simple steps:
- Take a photo of your subject with lots of back light (bright background to make your subject dark).
- Edit photo to make the background as bright as you can and your subject as dark as you can. You can use a simple ‘contrast’ edit, that’s all it takes.
- Print your photo in the size you want. Don’t worry about it being blurry because its just your template.
- Cut out the silhouette and trace on a black (traditionally black but you could use whatever color paper your little heart desires) paper.
- Cut along lines.
- Glue onto background paper of choice and frame!
Now if your subject is a dog or you are interested in printing your silhouette directing on to the paper, here is a little more technical route that I used!
- Take a photo of your subject with lots of back light (bright background to make your subject dark).
- Edit photo to make the background as bright as you can and your subject as dark as you can. You can use a simple ‘contrast’ edit, that’s all it takes.
- Open image in Photoshop and erase the background using the appropriate tool. Don’t be afraid to use a youtube tutorial to help!
- Paint your silhouette black in photoshop to ensure a crisp color look
- Format into the appropriate size for printing.
- Print and Frame!
I used a linen paper to keep that texture look that I love and carry it through. I also created a curved bottom of each silhouette to add and extra layer of perfection to that classic look.
Sweet and practically free little project that adds such a sweet element to your home!
MATERIALS
12″ Circular Frames
Linen Card Stock
Cheers,
Kortni Marie
