How to Create Silhouette Pictures

Create a silhouette image of your loved ones.

Silhouettes make lovely gifts and they are fairly simple to make. Black-and-white silhouette cutouts with a white border have a very distinctive look that differs from photos. Any parent or grandparent would appreciate having framed silhouettes of the children.

Things You'll Need

• Lamp
• Large sheet of paper
• White construction paper
• Copy machine access
• Scissors
• Black construction paper (or a thin cardboard box and black acrylic craft paint)
• Glue

Instructions

1. Attach a large piece of paper on an open wall. Move the lamp within a few feet of the wall, and position your model so that he is sitting midway between the lamp and the wall.

2. Trace the silhouette of your model onto the paper on the wall. Place the traced image on a copy machine, and copy it at a reduced size. You might need to reduce the size several times before you get it to the size you like.

3. Cut out the silhouette, and trace it onto black construction paper or thin cardboard that you cut from a cereal box. If you use the cardboard, paint the silhouette black using any acrylic craft paint.

4. Cut out the black silhouette and glue it onto the white construction paper. The image is now ready for framing.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not have a copy machine or home printer that can function as a copy machine, check your local library. Many libraries have copy machines for patron use.

• You can also create silhouettes by using photos of the image and copying the image by tracing over it with a pencil and tracing paper.

• Experiment with the background. Glue the black silhouette onto patterned paper such as wallpaper or scrapbook paper.