Silhouette How-To

I've had a few people asking about the silhouette I did for the birthday party, so I decided to put up a step-by-step with tips.  It was actually very simple with the exception of getting the child to remain still while you take numerous photos of their profile.

Step One
The first thing you want to think about is what you want each child to wear and how you want their hair - you want each child to be different so you can tell them apart.  You can put them in something "showy" like a big collar or something, which helps when you have multiple kids so that you can make each of them stand out.  My kid wears a lot of ponytails, and I thought a pony in a profile would be darling, so I chose that.  You could do a bun, a cute little sprout on top, braids, leave it down, whatever.  Choose what most describes the child.

Step Two
Once you get those things figured out, try to get them in front of a white wall or something light colored for the photo.  Take a close up with just the bust in the photo - when looking in the viewfinder, have the child's head and bust fill the entire space without cutting the top or sides off.  Take numerous photos so you can choose the best one later.  My kid stayed still long enough for me to get about three - luckily she was pouting sufficiently enough in one that it made the perfect profile of her.

Step Three
Once you have enough photos, upload them to your computer.  Use photo-editing software to maximize the contrast of the photo so that the outline becomes sharper.  I use Picasa, so the tool I use is the "Shadows" tool.  Don't completely wipe away features, just harden the lines.

These are the photos of my little one - I took some with a nice big collar and then with nothing to see which I liked better.

Step Four
Once you've chosen your photo and hardened the lines, print your photo to a size 8 x 10 (you can always make different sizes, but this size worked well with an 11 x 14 frame).

Step Five
Find yourself some really nice, thick, cardstock in your choice of color - I liked the traditional black.  Use a minimal amount of double-sided tape or sticky dots to stick the photo to the cardstock.  Very important: Make sure you place the tape on the outside of the profile!

Step Six
Take an x-acto knife and carefully cut around the shape. I didn't worry about hair whispies, I just did the solid shape of the head (except I kept her little pompadour she gets).  I had to play with Rosslyn's hair a bit, the ends are perky, but its hard to cut them out, so I just did several jagged cuts for the hair.

That's it!  It took me about an hour and a half once I got it in my head to do it - so for you savvy crafters, it shouldn't take too long.  Good luck and if you guys do some, I'd love to see them!

Finished product: