How to make a silhouette, part 1 can be found here.
Okay, so once I got the photo of my cute kid, I uploaded it to my computer. Many of you probably have some cool photo editing programs that allow you to size your photo. I may have something like that on my computer. I don’t know and am too lazy to figure it out, so I just printed my picture.
My copy was smaller than I wanted, so I enlarged it using our photocopier. I know, I know, my methods are primitive.
I outlined the copy with a pencil so my aging eyes could see clearly where to cut. I switched back and forth between 3 pairs of scissors —- a medium-size pair and 2 smaller sewing scissors. One of the sewing scissors had a curved blade, which is very helpful in tight curves.
I trimmed the bottom in a free-form curve. Then I decided that I didn’t like that Lincoln’s shirt collar came up so high. It covered too much of his long, skinny neck which is a Lincoln trademark, so I trimmed off slivers of the collar to define his neck more.
Then I decided which way Lincoln’s profile should go. I have 4 kids and wanted 4 silhouettes lined up, 2 facing right, 2 facing left. I decided his profile would face RIGHT, so I flipped it to the LEFT and taped it down. This would mean any tape residue left on the silhouette would be on the back side and not the front side.
See the leftover tape? I don’t have to worry about peeling it off, because that is the backside of the silhouette. In fact, I will add more tape to that side, flip him over and . . . . . . . . . . 
tape him to the wall.
If you are like me, your silhouettes will stay taped to your wall for almost 2 months while you look for 4 10″x13″ wood frames for a decent price. Mine were taped to my bedroom wall and gave me a thrill of pleasure every evening when I got ready for bed. I would look at them, dream about them, imagine different backgrounds and various ways to mat them.
I will share my cheap and non-conventional matting technique in a few days. My dear sister, who gave me very nice, professional mat-cutting tools plus a video showing how to use them, will likely shudder.
Because I didn’t watch the video. Wasn’t in the mood.
I did briefly try to figure out how to use the tools on my own. Didn’t figure it out. Got impatient. Grabbed the scissors instead.
Yep, my sister is gonna shudder.
Prairie Sings 