139tumbled marble coasters

t u m b l e d m a r b l e c o a s t e r s

The image I designed for this project appears much more complicated than it actually is.

By adding self-adhesive felt to the back of the tiles, you’ll have a unique set of coasters. If

you want to use the Gerbera daisy image, you can download it from www.photoshopcrafts.

com. With this project, you will learn how to silhouette an image using the Magic Selection

Brush tool, create a custom gradient, experiment with Blending Modes, and apply filters

such as Clouds and Noise.

140 the adobe photoshop elements crafts book

1 Themaingraphicforthecoast-

ersisasilkGerberadaisywhich

Iputdirectlyontothebedofascanner.

Toaccessascannerthatishookedup

toyourcomputer,chooseFile>Import

andselectthenameofyourscanner

manufacturer.Thescannersoftwaredia-

logboxopens,anditistherewhereyou

selecttheresolutionandtheareaofthe

imageyouwanttoscan.Theimagethen

opensinPhotoshopElements.

2 Thenextstepistoselectjustthe

flower.Inthiscase,itwillbemuch

fastertoselectthebackgroundbecause

ofthesimilarityintonalcolors.Select

theMagicSelectionBrushtool in

thetoolboxandclickonceontheback-

ground.Noticenowthatyourcursorhas

a+signnexttoit.Thismeansthatyou

cancontinueaddingtoyourselectionby

clickinginareasnotyetselected.

Stuff you will need

Four4-inchtumbledmarbletiles

Inkjetdecalpaper,suchasLazertran

Craftutilityknife

Turpentine

Bowlofwarmwater

Oil-basedvarnish,suchaspolyurethane

Smallpaintbrush

Two9x12sheetsadhesive-backedfelt,suchasQuickStick

note Elements Version 3.0 users can select the background area of the image with the Magic Wand tool.

141tumbled marble coasters

3 Ifyoupickupsomeoftheflower

pixels,switchtotheMagicSelection

Brushtool thathasa-nexttothe

cursorintheOptionsbarlocatedatthe

topofyourworkarea.Clickonthearea

thatyoudon’twanttobepartofthe

selection.

4 Next,sinceyouultimately

wantthesubjectselected(not

thebackground),youneedtoselectthe

inverseoftheselectedareabychoosing

Select>Inverse.Nowtheflower

isselected.

5 Createanewdocumentby

choosingFile>New>BlankFile.

TheNewdialogboxappears.Entera

nameintheNamefield.Enter8inches

intheWidthfieldand8inchesinthe

Heightfield.Enterthesameresolutionas

yourscannedimage.Ifyou’reusingthe

imageofthedaisyfromthewww.pho-

toshopcrafts.comWebsite,enter72for

resolution.ChooseWhiteforBackground

Contents.SelectRGBforColorMode.

ClickOK.

142 the adobe photoshop elements crafts book

6 SelecttheMovetool inthe

toolbox,andwiththeShiftkey

pressed,draganddroptheselection

intotheblankdocument.Whenyou

presstheShiftkeywhiledraggingan

imagefromonedocumenttoanother,

theimageisautomaticallycenteredin

thenewdocument.Notethattheflower

isnowonitsownlayerintheLayers

palette.

7 Createanewlayerbyclickingon

theNewLayericonlocatedatthe

topoftheLayerspalette.Double+click

thelayerandnameit“Guides”.PressDon

yourkeyboardtosettheForegroundand

Backgroundswatchesinthetoolboxback

tothedefaultblackandwhite.

8 ChooseRulersfromtheViewmenu.

SelectthePenciltoolinthetoolbox

bypressingNonyourkeyboard.Inthe

Optionsbarlocatedatthetopofyour

workarea,enter2pixelsforSize.

Now,presstheShiftkeyanddragaverti-

callinefromthetopofyourdocument

tothebottom,atthe4-inchmarkonthe

ruler.Releasethemousebutton.Now,

dragahorizontallinealsoatthe4-inch

mark,withtheShiftkeypressed.

143tumbled marble coasters

9 Thenextstepistoscaletheflower

tothesizeoftheentirecanvas.

SelecttheMovetoolinthetoolboxby

pressingVonyourkeyboard,andthen

clickontheflowerlayer.PressShiftand

dragthecornerpoints.Rememberto

usethearrowkeysonyourkeyboardto

nudgetheflowerintoplace.Theside,

top,andbottomhandlesshouldlineup

withtheguides.PressEntertoapplythe

transformation.Oncepositioned,you

candiscardtheGuideslayerbydrag-

gingitontopoftheTrashiconlocated

atthetopoftheLayerspalette.

10 Toaddagradienttothe

Background,selectthe

Gradienttool inthetoolboxby

pressingGonyourkeyboard.Clickthe

RadialGradienticonintheOptionsbar

locatedatthetopofyourworkarea,

andthenclicktheEditbuttontoopen

theGradientEditordialogbox.

11 Selectthe“OrangeYellow

Orange”gradient,asshown

here,andthenclickonceontheleft

ColorStoplocatedinthelowerleftarea

ofthedialogbox.Thiswillenableyou

tochangethecolorofthefirstsection

ofthegradientinthefollowingstep.

Youknowit’sselectedwhenthetriangle

isblack.

144 the adobe photoshop elements crafts book

12 Floatyourcursoroverthe

image.Yourcursorwillchange

intoaneyedropper ,enablingyou

tosampleaspecificcolorinyourimage.

Clickonthedesiredcolor.Youcan

alsodouble+clicktheColorStopto

opentheColorPickerandchoosea

colorthere.

13 Designatethelengthofacolor

andwhereittransitionsinto

thenextcolorbydraggingthesmall

diamondtotheleftorright,asshown

here.Toavoidsavingoveroneofthe

defaultgradients,enteranameforthe

gradientandclicktheNewbutton.

ClickOK.Yourcustomgradientisnow

savedwithintheGradientEditorand

canbeusedanothertime.

14 WiththeBackgroundselected

intheLayerspalette,drag

acrosstheimagewiththeGradient

tool.Experimentdraggingindifferent

directionsandlengths.

145tumbled marble coasters

15 Adifferenttechniqueyoucan

useonthebackground,

insteadofthegradient,istoapplythe

Cloudsfilterwhichrandomlymixes

twocolorsina“cloud-like”fashion.

ClickontheForegroundswatchinthe

toolboxtoopentheColorPicker.Float

yourcursorovertheimage.Yourcur-

sorwillchangeintoaneyedropper ,

enablingyoutosampleaspecificcolor

inyourimage.Clickonthedesired

colorandthenclickOK.

Next,clickontheBackgroundswatch

inthetoolboxandsampleasecond

color.ClickOK.Whenyouapplythe

Cloudsfilterinthenextstep,thenew

ForegroundandBackgroundcolors

youjustselectedwillbemixed.

16 SelecttheBackgroundinthe

Layerspalette.SelectFilter>

Render>Clouds.Experimenttoggling

throughdifferentcloudcombinations,

bypressingCtrl+Fafewtimes.

146 the adobe photoshop elements crafts book

17 Next,changetheBlending

Modefortheflowerlayerby

firstselectingthatlayerintheLayers

palette.ChooseOverlayfromthe

BlendingModepop-upmenuinthe

Layerspalette.TheOverlaymode

combinesthepixelsoftheactivelayer

withtheunderlyingimagepixels,but

preservesthehighlightandshadow

detailintheimage.

18 PresstheAltkeyandthen

chooseMergeVisiblefromthe

Layerspalettemenu.Thiswillmakea

mergedcopyofthetwolayersontoa

newlayer,sothemezzotinteffectcanbe

appliedtoboththeBackgroundclouds

andtheflower.Tocreateamezzotint

effect,addNoisetotheimagebychoos-

ingFilter>Noise>AddNoise.

147tumbled marble coasters

19 Thefinaldesignstepistoadd

afewlinesoftexttothe

image.IusedtheLatintermsforgenus

andspeciesoftheGerberadaisy,along

withafewotherhistoricalwordasso-

ciationsrelevanttothisflower.

SelecttheHorizontalTexttool in

thetoolboxandclickanywhereinyour

document.Typewhatyouwouldlike.

20 Dragoverthetexttohighlight

it,andchooseyourformat-

tingintheOptionsbarlocatedatthe

topofyourworkarea.IselectedSnell

Roundhandatvariouspointsizesfor

eachlineoftext.SelecttheMovetool

inthetoolboxtopositioneachline

oftext.

148 the adobe photoshop elements crafts book

21 Whenyouarereadytoprint

ontotheinkjetdecalpaper,

followthedirectionsprovidedby

thetransferpapermanufacturer.

Allowtheprinttodryforatleast30

minutes.Witharulerandcraftutility

knife,trimtheimagesoeachquadrant

isexactly4-incheswide.

22 Brushthetileswithacoatof

turpentine(donotsubstitute

mineralspirits).Thiswillhelpthe

transfersettleintotheporesofthe

marble.

Soakthedecalinfairlywarmwaterfor

about15seconds(itwillcurl).Carefully

slidethedecaloffthebackingsheetand

ontothemarble.Gentlyposition

itinplaceandcarefullyremoveany

airbubbleswithyourfingertips.The

decalisextremelydelicate,sousealight

touch.Allowthedecaltodryovernight,

andthenapplyseveralcoatsofoil-based

protectivevarnish,suchaspolyure-

thane.

Thefinalstepistotrimthefeltback-

ingsheetsjustunder4-squareinches

foreachcoaster.Iappliedtwosquares

ofself-adhesivefelttothebackofeach

coasterforaddedsurfaceprotection.