Portrait backing dilemma.

[wood-n-things]

So I've got miss Boop completed and I am making a frame for her today. My question(s) follows:

 

I want to give her a red dress, red shoes, red lips & a black backer for the rest of the pic.

 

If I do this it will make the back look like quilt work with the small pieces of felt for the red accents and I think it will be unsightly.

 

Do you ever use this method to add different colors to your portraits?

Attaching different colors of felt as a backer to highlight different assets within the same pic?

 

If so do you place another medium to cover the felt & unsightly back?

 

Thanks I have several more Betty's to complete before my next show. She always sells out unframed I want to entice some old customers back with a new look.

[steviegwood]

i always use a 1/8" ply backer for my portraits. it adds strength to the cutting and makes it much easier to do multiple colors. just make your marks where you want the different colors and paint by numbers. hope this helps. steve

[merlin]

hey Mike, I use multiple colored holographic paper behind a lot of my cuttings.

 

http://nzmerlin.multiply.com/photos/album/5#photo=4

 

And yes it does resemble a quilt, but by using paper instead of felt (it's thinner and don't hold the dust if no glass) and I place a full size sheet of plain paper over the quilt look and then put the back board on.

 

hope that helps.

 

Merlin

[wood-n-things]

Thanks Merlin. The visual was great! Thanks to you too Steve

[Travis]

If the back is exposed with felt, perhaps you can glue your "quilt" with Aleen's Tacky Glue (found at any craft store) to a black felt backer. That way you still have a nice looking back, but the color still shows through the front.