I think it has something to do with my excitement for 3D. This week I experimented for days with making giant pictures, and it was exciting. Using my printer, a great app called Mindcad Tiler, my great Adobe Photoshop Elements, and my wonderful Silhouette Cameo picture-cutting machine, I was able to produce attachable 8 1/2 x 11 inch printouts, which I taped together to make giant pictures for the grandkids who will be coming here this holiday. The sheets of printed out glossy paper attach so well that you have to squint a bit to see where the seams are.
Here’s how to do it:
(1) Choose a very large picture from Google Images, save it to the desktop, and import it to Adobe Photoshop Elements.
(2) Use Adobe’s “paint bucket” tool to “color in” the white parts of the picture with gray. This is done so that the Silhouette will not cut out the white parts.
(3) Open your print setup screen (CMD-P on my Mac), and save the image as a PDF.
(4) Drag the PDF into Mindcad, orient the picture, and choose how large a picture you desire (i.e., how many rows and columns of 8 1/2 x 11-inch papers for the picture)
(5) Click PRINT and choose “pages 1 to 1” (and later, “2 to 2,” etc.)
(6) Click on PDF, then on “Open PDF in Preview.”
(7) Take a screenshot of the image, capturing the image with just a small white border around it.
(8) Locate your screenshot on your desktop, and drag it into your Silhouette frame
(9) Adjust the size of the image so that (1) it fits in the frame, and (2) so the measurement of all your dragged in pictures is the same. It’s a good idea to drag each image into the Silhouette to make certain all can fit at the size you choose.
(10) Have the Silhouette print out, and then cut out, each 8 ½ x 11-inch part of the giant picture.
(11) Tape the printouts together on the reverse side. Then, use glue dots, or other sticky material, to hold the giant picture to the wall. To give as a gift, you can fold the giant picture along its seams into a manageable size for transportation.
What a fun week it’s been. My 30-inch-tall picture from Big Hero 6 was printed on seven of the nine possible 8 1.2 x 11-inch sheets of paper. But, just think, I could have printed that character on hundreds of pieces of paper. Imagine, just the eye alone, could have taken up an entire sheet of paper! As I drive by rows of buildings, I will imagine my giant Big Hero 6 stuck to a wall several blocks long.
Giant pictures on my wall, and my giant imagination. What next folks?
