Engineer Print Tips

I fell in love with this idea when I saw it, and I finally decided to tackle it. There are plenty of tutorials out there. This one over at Sugar Bee Crafts is the one that I referenced the most. It goes over all the details from choosing a picture to hanging it up.  Here's another helpful tips of the Do's and Don'ts of Engineer Printing from Scatter Shot. I highly recommend reading both of these if you want to try this.

And now, here are a few things I also learned from the process.

Engineer Prints

The pictures are great! I love how they turned out the instant I saw them. You know what is even better? They were taken from my phone. No kidding?!

Styrofoam

The Styrofoam is messy. I did not have a proper cutting tool, so it made an absolute mess. I did at least anticipate that and worked in the garage. Check out here for the warning. I forgot about static electricity, too. They stuck to my clothes and socks.

The lines were slightly uneven when cut and a little rough. The fix? I used masking tape on the edge to help smooth it over, then painted that black. (In retrospect, I guess I could have saved myself some time by just buying black tape.)

Attaching pictures

I used spray adhesive on the back of the photo, then placed it on the foam. It seemed okay except the pictures would unstick a bit. (This may be due to me completing this in my garage during the Texas Ice Storm of '13, but who knows.) I added just a tad of Modge Podge under the corners of all photos. It bubbles too much because the paper is super thin.

I also couldn't decide whether to add a protective layer of something on top or not. My clear spray left speckles, and the modge podge left wrinkles. So I did none. Maybe this just makes it easier to change out the photos whenever you want?

Mounting

Hanging it up with hanging wire and duct tape? It worked 2 out of 3. I kept having one fall. So I bought some of the poster double-sided mounting strips, added them to each of the four corners, and that seems to do the trick.

Overall

It's easy but time consuming. Maybe that's because I made 12 of them (Seriously. No joke. Christmas present people. 12 total. And I still have more foam in the garage!). Maybe not as Christmas presents unless you are crazy, or have time. Although I know my sister-in-law absolutely loved hers, and so it was worth it for me! Honestly, I am in love with the results, but maybe that's because I simply adore the huge photos of my boys.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you've done this or if you give it a try!