engineer prints.

I wanted a unique and inexpensive way to display some more of my photos in our home.  There are always great deals on photo enlargements, but its hard to find huge photos without paying a lot for it.  I saw on pinterest, how several people were going to Staples and having photos printed as engineer prints.  I could purchase a 3 foot by 4 foot print for 6 dollars! I quickly converted some of our  favorite photos to black and white and rushed to have them printed!

How to prep that giant photo for wall hanging:

For a surface to mount your photo on, I would suggest using either luan plywood (its lightweight and smooth, and you could easily build a frame around it), or foam insulation board (its super light, you can paint it, and you only need an x-acto knife to cut it!

For this project, I went with the foam option! One sheet of foam insulation board cost about $8.00 and I had enough to mount 3 photos.  

I measured out the exact size of my photo with a ruler, and used a metal t-square to assist me in my cutting process. Try lining up the ruler with your cut, and cut towards the t-square while firmly holding it in place.  You will get a cleaner cut this way.

I then painted the edges of the foam board with black acrylic paint and let dry.

To glue onto the board, I used rubber cement.  I worked from one side of the photo to the other- applying rubber cement to the foam and smoothing it out with my hand.