You will need:
zip file with image - download
20/20 - free tiling program - download
This tutorial was inspired by a member of the PSP Friends mailing list who wanted to do this technique but couldn't find a tutorial on it. Thanks for the inspiration, Deb!
1. Open your image, either the one available for download or another one of your choosing. Make 2 copies and close original.
2. Resize Copy 1 to size desired for the left border - mine is 182
x 150.
3. Open a new image with a transparent background. Make it the size you want for your left border. I chose 140 x 200. Flood fill with a colour that goes with your image. Mine is #5c785c.
4. Select a part of your image to go in the border in the shape you want. I used rounded rectangle with a feather of 10. Copy and paste into your border as a new layer. Merge layers.
5. Take Copy 2 of your original image and resize to the height of
your border. (200 in this case) If you have "maintain aspect ratio" selected,
the width will automatically be filled in.
6. Add new layer and flood fill with white. Adjust opacity to desired level, 82 in this case. *Note: you want to make it light enough that people will be able to read the page, but dark enough to see the image.
7. Merge layers and save as a .jpg.
8. Open image in 20/20.
9. Image--->Seamless tile. If your version of 20/20 is older than 2.2.7, it will be Image--->Tile effect. The image will change, this is normal. Save and close 20/20.
10. Open the image in PSP.
11. Go back to your border image and add a right border of 1600 in white. (the border of 1600 plus the width of 140 will give you a total width of 1740 which will accomodate higher resolutions)
12. Select your white area and flood fill with the tile image you made
in 20/20.
13. Deselect and save. To see this image as a border, click here.
You can experiment with different pictures and looks. For instance, you could put a drop shadow on the right side of the border or cut it out or add a border and bevel (you'd do this one before adding the right border in step 11) etc.
**Note: this technique, while producing a very nice background, also produces a big file size. If anyone finds a way to reduce the file size without compromising quality, please email me and let me know! I tried various compression factors and this is the smallest I got it without compromising the quality.
Tutorial and images © Margaret M. aka MsRosie of Rosie's Graphics
2000-2004 and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission
by the author. Please see my terms of use
page. If you have any problems or questions regarding the tutorial, please email
me.