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Paper Piecing |
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| Create a new image. Make a new image, any size to accomodate what you want to make, here I've used 300 pixels by 300 pixels. Make the background any solid color so that you can see what you're doing. |
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Make vector shapes. Click on the  preset shape tool. Set your background swatch to a solid color, here I'm using #FFB119, and the foreground swatch to null. From the shape drop down, choose the Ellipse preset shape. Place your cursor in the middle of the image, hold down the shift key and hold down the right mouse button while dragging out the circle. Objects-> Align-> Center in Canvas. Selections-> From Vector Object. Selections-> Save/Load Selection-> Save to Alpha Channel. Selections-> Select None. Layer-> New Vector Layer. In the layer control palette, drag this layer below the circle layer. Change the preset shape tool to Rectangle. Draw out a rectangle to make the first "ray". Mouse over the shape, sticking out from it will be a rotation handle. Grab this and drag to put the ray in the proper orientation. Drag the shape to the correct place. Edit-> Copy. Edit-> Paste as New Vector Selection. Rotate and drag again. Continue the copy/paste until you've got the number of rays that you want. In the layer control palette, turn off the visibility of the circle layer. Click on the  object selector. Drag from the top left of the image to the bottom right to select all of the rays. Selections-> From Vector Object. Save this selection to the alpha channel as before. Selections-> Select None. |
See a screen capture of this step. |
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Texture the shapes. Right click on each vector layer and choose Convert to Raster Layer. Click on the circle layer (top layer), Adjust-> Add/Remove Noise-> Add Noise. Set it to Gaussian, 10% and Monochrome. Effects-> Texture Effects-> Texture. Choose or make a preset that will give subtle texture to the piece. You can download the one I used, extract it to your Presets directory. Repeat these steps on the rays layer. |
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Add chalking (optional). Click on the rays layer. Layers-> New Raster Layer. Click on the  Airbrush Tool (located on the Paint Brush flyout). Use the default values except turn down the Density to about 15. Load the rays selection from the alpha channel and brush on chalking with whatever color you like, here I've used #FF911B. Reduce the opacity of this layer, if necessary, by using the Opacity slider in the layer control palette. When you're happy with the chalking, Layers-> Merge Down. Repeat this procedure for the circle layer. Selections-> Select None. |
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Contour and give depth to the piece. Make the rays layer active again and load the rays selection. Add a new raster layer. Effects-> 3D Effects-> Cutout. Set the Offsets both to 1, Opacity to 100%, Blur to 3 and the color swatch to white. Adjust the opacity of the cutout using the Opacity slider on the layer control palette. The amount will depend upon the color of your shape, darker colors need less opacity. This image is a fairly light color, I've left it at 100%. Add another new raster layer, in the layer control palette drag this beneath the rays layer. Effects-> 3D Effects-> Drop Shadow. Set the Offsets both to 1, Opacity to 100%, Blur to 3 and the color swatch to black. Again, adjust the opacity of this layer using the slider. Here I've set it to 50%. Repeat this procedure for the circle layer. Turn off the visiblity of the background layer and it's ready to be pasted into your layout. |
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