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Monday, July 16, 2012

Scratch Through Photos

This is yet another "scratch technique" among "How to Create your own Scratch Art" and "Scratch Through Paintings".  This technique requires having a photo print.  I know you could probably recreate this technique in Photoshop, but I thought it was still worth sharing.



To Create a "Scratch Through Photo" you'll need:
A photo print
a bowl of warm water
a nail or wooden stick (a nail worked best)


To create your scratch through photo, first place your photo in a bowl of warm water for about a minute or longer.



Then take the photo out and lay it on a paper towel to absorb the moisture.  Get your scratching tools ready. The nail worked best for us.



Now start scratching away. It leaves a yellowish or orangish mark.  I found the photos that worked the best were darker.  When we tried scratching on white areas it didn't seem to work.



I thought this technique was kind of fun and it would be a great way to bring some energy to an old print you might just be throwing away.


What Do You Think?

6 comments:

  1. This is such a great idea! I scrapbook and I have done this before usually around my main subject in the photo: scratching all around and leaving the main subject untouched. The kids recently have done a lot of scratch art. It would be fun to give them some photos and see what kind of art they would make.

    I will give it a try in our next art day at home. thanks for sharing. :)

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  2. what a great way to use the bad photos we never should have printed in the first place! (with toddlers. With older kids, we could just use regular photos!)

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  3. I love this post, Melissa. Experimenting with materials is one of my favorite things to do. Would you be up for sharing a photo and this concept in a "scratch this photo" tinkersketch post?

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  4. I love this! Sure to be fun for little ones, and I have so many photos lying around that we could use!

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  5. Interesting. I've never heard of this technique before, but it sounds like a lot of fun, and the results are pretty good!

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