18.9.08

polaroid magic & diy

so polaroid may be 86-ing film (bastards), but photoshop magicians have made a free action that makes any picture look like a polaroid (with or without the shadow). a few i dorked around & made.
yes, it's not the real thing-but you can make your own! i did this using ratty old pictures i didn't want to put in an album.

first you need to make your master template. you will need the following:
*heavy cardstock-type paper
*scissors
*exacto knife
*some kind of glue or double-sided tape
*ratty pictures (or good ones) to make into "polaroids"!

i tried to make this easy-so if you download the original version of this picture on flickr, it is scaled be exactly 8.5" x 11" & will give you 4 templates (so we don't waste paper...you can give the other templates to your friends!) just to make sure your printer isn't doing something weird-each polaroid should, if printing correctly, be 3.5" x 4.25" & the black square inside should be a 3.1" square.
cut out one of the polaroids. now cut out the black square with an exacto knife.
cut a piece of heavy cardstock (preferably white, to look like a polaroid) 3.5" across & 8.5" high. fold the paper in half.
lay this over your piece of already-cut heavy paper. use an exacto knife & cut out hole on your master template. use this to lay over pictures or magazines & see if the "faux-loroid" looks right. cut out your picture (3.25" square). put the square you have cut inside the folded white paper & use double sided tape on all sides to get the two sides together.
et voila! so THERE, polaroid!