Simple Personalised Silhouette DIY

As you can probably tell, lately I’ve been obsessed with the kind of silhouettes which you find in vintage lockets and cameos. I think they’re just so elegant, and luckily they’re so easy to recreate! Check out my silhouette window decal here, and the silhouette votive holder here. (Oops, I think this might have to be my last silhouette project for a while!)

I’ve also been planning to build up a gallery wall on one of the smaller walls in my room, and have been thinking of lots of different ideas for posters, photos and wall hangings that will look good displayed together.

 

images c/o abeautifulmess.com

I want the majority of things on my wall to be black or white, with colourful accents, and have been researching ways to hang things or attach things to the wall without losing my accommodation deposit – but more on that later!

The first thing I’ve made for the wall is another really simple silhouette poster, but this time with a little bit of a personalised twist. Instead of copying an image from the internet or a book, I used my own face. Vain, probably, fun and awesome, definitely. (We may have different definitions of the word awesome, but I thought it was pretty cool!)

First, I took a picture of my profile and then used a basic photo editor to make the image black and white, and to increase the contrast to put my face in silhouette.

 

I traced this image directly from my computer screen, but it would probably be easier (and you’d get better results) if you printed the image first!

 

Once I’d traced the basic outline, I added eyelashes and smoothed round all of the edges before using the tracing paper version to make a sturdier template out of a piece of white card. I cut the silhouette out in one piece, and kept both pieces so I could experiment with making the silhouettes in different ways. I tore a few pages from a magazine and tried a few different placements until I found a combination I was happy with.

The simple design I chose was a plain white background with a dark magazine page cut to the shape of my silhouette. I used thick black electrical tape to create a dramatic border which will tie in nicely with my monochrome theme once the rest of the wall is ready to go. I even cut out a tiny anchor, which is one my favourite motifs, and I think it looks just right. There are so many different ways you could style this kind of poster. Reversing the concept (a white silhouette on top of a bright magazine page) or adding details (lettering, initials or more silhouettes of your friends and family) mean there are infinite ways to pull off this super simple project.

 

Stay tuned for more quick and simple gallery wall ideas – although I promise no more silhouettes for a while!

Big Love, PV x