Don't forget to poke the photos to enlarge!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Screening Process...

Today is Wednesday and on Wednesday, I am not great at working on long projects. Soooo.....
I decided to do a quick project that can be done many ways.

This process can be made into a triptych wall for display as I am doing it or it can be made much smaller for a three panel screen with different materials as a base.

I designed this one on graph paper this morning. I made it 6" wide and 8" tall at the highest point.

I drew out the center panel and put a curve at the top. You can make it symmetrical by simply folding the graph paper down the center and cutting the curve at the top for half. The sides should automatically match that way. Then simply use the half for the two side pieces.

For this wall sized unit, I used foam core for the back side and poster board for the front. That gives it stability to stand alone.

If I were making a three panel screen, I would use one illustration or mat board for the back and poster board for the front.

I cut out the three pieces of foam core and three of poster board and then found two fabrics that looked good together. I cut three pieces of each fabric with about 3/4" extra around the edges.

I used spray glue to adhere the fabric to the front and Aleene's gel glue to wrap the edges around to the back.

I mitered the corners of the fabric, making allowance for depth on the foam core and just cutting close to the corners on a slant on the poster board. Poke the photos to see better.

I laid the foam core pieces face down and lined them up, gluing lengths of ribbon to the seams. If you wanted a more solid look, you could use a strip of fabric instead.

Then I glued down the pieces of poster board on corresponding foam core pieces, sandwiching the ribbons in between.

I did have to weight these down with books just because I used Dollar Tree foam core. It is more warp-able than regular foam core.

When it was finished, Tessie volunteered to model for scale.

The nice thing about these little screens is, they can be set anywhere that you need a back drop for a couple of pieces of furniture. They also can be folded for storage. If you are planning to fold them, be sure to make the center front just a hair smaller than the back, so that it will close easily.

I got the idea for this from a needle book on one of the embroidery websites. Theirs had a neat tie closing on the center front. I eliminated that part and also the padding that they had on it.

It might be interesting to pad the outside and do the cover in patchwork or embroidery, but that's another story for another day.

I am off to Wednesday Witches' mini meeting soon.

See you tomorrow.

12 comments:

Irene said...

What a brilliant idea, Casey and thank you for such an easy to follow guide. This is certainly one for the "to do" list. It will save hunting around for something suitable to use as a backdrop when the need arises.

Kim Gillian said...

Great idea for the foam board, I also have some of the exact stuff from Dollar Tree.
-Kim :)

Lady Jane said...

Great tutorial. Cant wait to give this a try. Thanks for posting. mini hugs L J

Kathi said...

Endless possibilities! I'm thinking an outdoor scene for my teeny tiny house? Guess I'll need to make mine larger. I was considering a poster but haven't found one that would be appropriate...
Thanks for a how to!

Maia's Twinkle Miniatures said...

What a nice project, useful in so many different ways and it also looks fun to make! Thank you. :)

rosanna said...

Brilliant, I shall copy it ! be sure. Min hugs rosanna

Marit said...

That's a nice idea for making a backdrop for photo's of miniatures!

Thanks,
Marit

Debbie said...

Great tutorial Casey. This can be used in lots of applications. Thank you for sharing..xxx

Lucille said...

Such a helpful tutorial, Casey! Thank you so much.

Lorraine Escapita said...

Very cool!

Nina said...

Casey,
Wonderful idea! Would it be possible for you to post the screen pattern? I would love to make this but am "graphically challenged"!

Norma Bennett said...

Thanks for the info, looks really good. I've been thinking about the best way to do a background for pieces on a sales table and this looks like a good solution.