The primary design tool in my digital collage tool box is the Diana photo app. Pretty sure it’s free. It allows you to select two photos and then double exposes them with a variety of filters.
[My other heavy hitters are PicFrame — for making mosaics — and Hipstamatic — a photo app that applies a filter and a frame as you shoot. Many of the photos that I double expose through Dianaphoto were shot in Hipstamatic.]
This post will give you the basic skills to use the Diana Photo app. It is a ton of fun, addictive even. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
First, select two pictures by tapping the camera icons in the squares at bottom. The app automatically applies one of its filters. I’ll show you how to select a different filter in a minute.
- Tip. If you’re like me and have 1,000’s of photos on your phone, you might want to create an album before starting. That can spare you a lot of scrolling.
If you find yourself intrigued by one of the two selected photos and want to keep it in place while changing out the other, lock it in place by depressing your finger slightly on the picture itself.
A lock icon will show up
Locking a picture allows you to audition how it will look with different pictures or filters or both. To unlock, simply hold your finger down on the locked image.
Next, select a filter. There are a couple of dozen. The variability of effect includes not just color and intensity, but also which parts of the photos are visible. Note that there is also a “no filter” option.
To select another filter, you can swipe left on the double exposure (without the filter grid visible) and whatever filter comes next in the app will be applied. In the alternative, you can hold your finger down on the double exposure and the black filter grid-menu will appear. Then tap to select. This latter method is efficient if you know your favorite filters. There are quite a number of filters that I never use.
To save the double exposure, simply tap the three connected circles ICON at the upper left. That will produce a menu for you to select where to put the pic. I always save to my camera roll, even if it will later go on Instagram or FB or wherever.
Below, find the same two photos with different filters. It gives you an idea of the kinds of changes produced by the app.
Directly below the double exposure, there’s a white dot flanked by plus and minus signs. An intensity slider. Hold lightly and slide left or right to dim or heighten the double exposure. I wish this feature was more interesting. A lost opportunity, IMHO.
Above left shows a fully dimmed filter while the right shows the button slid all the way to the right.
Another design tool is the swap. The selected pictures at bottom can be switched left/right by swiping left or right. This may produce radically different filter results (note, sometimes it makes little to no difference).
Dianaphotoapp has two ways of letting you make random selections. You can tap the dice at upper left and if no photo had been locked, it will select two photos from your camera roll. If you’ve locked an image, then it’ll only select one. I’ve read you can shake your phone too, something I’ve yet to try.
I love the dice function. Absolutely love it.
By using photos of collage or quilts, these pix gain a little artistry (IMHO). Also, when one or both picture is ALREADY a double exposure, some really quirky mysterious effects can be achieved.
That’s one reason why I use the hashtag #lostcountoftheexposures over on Instagram. I also always use #dianaphoto and #dianaphotoapp so that others having fun with this app can see.
Also, once in a while, the official Diana app account will feature one of my pix (last photo, below).
Have fun! Trust me, it’s a super easy app to use.
Tools:
I’ll often start by making batches of components.
If you don’t know this trick, you will be eternally grateful to me once learning it: for tough-to-open screw tops, wind a rubber band around the top and try again. Voila!
Once glue has dried, fold and stitch base tightly closed. This needs to be stiff enough to insert into the small holes that you’ll be poking in the head.
Make some heads. I don’t use a pattern but the shape is easy enough. Just be sure to create a long neck because it will need to be inserted into the body (longer than my diagram). Back stitch at tip of nose for strength. Clip seam at tip before turning.
Next, add features to the head.
Next, embroider nose and mouth, using a contrasting warm-colored floss. You can do this after the head is attached as long as you’re clever about hiding your knot.
Next, stuff the bodies. I buy pea-sized gravel and rinse it for the bottom of the body to give it ballast. If yours are meant to hang, you can use poly-stuffing only.
To make arms, take a pipe cleaner and make a loop at center, twist once around the loop for strength, then stretch arms out and stitch to the body at the loop. Cut arms to size.
Making clothing and accessories is the fun part. This year, I’m crocheting wreaths and making teeny quilts. Doll making aisles at craft stores are a gold mine of miniature items — wreaths, garden tools, rolling pins — you name it. Good for customizing your mouse as a gift when time is short.
Making felt critter clothing offers so many opportunities to reclaim cuffs, sleeves and portions of sweaters gone by! A whole post dedicated to the garbing of mice will follow.
This yellow-ish quilt prompted questions about photo transfer, so I thought I’d share four methods: two involving ink jet printing; an oil-rub technique; and iron on transfers. I’ll save web-based fabric printing for another post.
Dover makes lovely paperback collections of copyright-free black and white images that are perfect for these transfers. You can also copy and use your own photos.
The poor quality of this attempt might be due to the fact that the original image was dark. Too much toner is not a good thing, just as the “best” print setting may not be ideal when printing on an inkjet.
The dapper-guy-cloth I ordered through Spoonflower. I’ll save that for another time.
