metronews.ca
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THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011
Making art from home Give your photos a second life by turning them into creative and unique decor pieces ISTOCK IMAGES
DESIGN CENTRE KARL LOHNES HOME@ METRONEWS.CA
There used to be a time when families would proudly display framed vacation, school and family photos as part of their decor. Nowadays, all my photos are locked away in my computer and although easily emailed to friends and family, very rarely do I have any cool photos on display in my house. New printing options will let you turn a simple photo into some fantastic
artwork for the home.
Resizing your photos Try cropping your favourite photo into a small 4” by 4” square and surround it with a very large white matte, then frame with a modern black wood frame. This makes a simple image instantly look more modern. You can also turn coloured photos into black and white images — a great way to give a collage of framed photos some consistency.
Making poster-sized art To make a small space feel bigger simply add large art or mirrors. This creates a big impact while taking up no precious floor space!
My favourite poster art is children’s fridge art. Scan a brightly coloured painted handprint page and have it enlarged into poster-sized paper. A simple frame (try Ikea) will help to give your new poster sized art a professionally-finished look. One large poster of homemade art can look special whereas more than one looks a bit common.
Frame matters Create a real designer by framing modern-style art pieces with traditional frames. One of my favourite art pieces is a black and white photo of a single flower and it is framed in a superfancy carved frame that has been spray painted in electric blue colour.
Printing on canvas The texture of the canvas and the thick edges of the stretcher frame will give an artful look to the simplest of pictures. Using photophore, consider modifying your photo to make it a bit more artful. The antiquing, colour contrasting and
black/white imaging are my favourites. When re-printed on canvas they will really look like artwork rather than just a photo.
Printing on metal Consider reprinting your digital photo on a sheet of
Frame the results on your two minutes in a photo booth .
stainless steel. The sheen of the stainless steel appears beneath the artwork to help give a very contemporary and reflective quality to your artwork. A lovely landscape shot, digitalized in black/white or sepia tone will take on a mysterious look when
printed on metal.
Laser printing Laser printing allows you to enlarge or reduce your image for big or small impact. Why not reproduce Grannie’s portrait in black and white, then re-paint on brightly coloured makeup for a Warhol-ish look.