~ How I make Photo Cutouts ~

	It all begins here when I receive your photo attached to an e-mail or when I scan a photo you mailed to me. Using Photoshop, I first check to be sure the file will produce a high quality print. If the file has been compressed by your e-mail program so it sends fast, it won't print as well as we want. In that case, I'll be contacting you and asking you to resend using this upload page . If we still don't have a good image, I'll ask for a different photo. I won't make a poor quality cutout.
~ FREE photo touchup ~ Once we have a good photo to work with, I adjust brightness, contrast, color balance, sharpness, etc. This photo editing is FREE. I do it for me as much as for you because I want my product to be as good as I can make it. I simply refuse to make a cutout I'm not pleased with.
	~ Highest quality printing ~ After I'm satisfied with the image quality I print it on a special photo-only printer called a dye-sublimation printer. My dye-sub printer not only produces continuous tone (that means it doesn't form colors by placing different color drops of ink close together so your eye thinks it's seeing a particular color), it also heat transfers a plastic clear coat to the print so it is not affected by water. And it helps to prevent fading too.
I use a secret proprietary process to attach the print to the acrylic or oak material.
	And now comes the hard part - cutting around the exact edge of the subject we want to make into a photo cutout. Using a full-spectrum light 4" from the print surface, I guide the photo into the blade which is about as thick as a line drawn with a fine ballpoint pen. The most difficult part is determining where someone's black hair ends and their shadow begins!
After the scroll saw work is completed, and double checked, the sculpture is mounted to a base . If it's an ornament, a gold-like ribbon is attached. If it's a refrigerator magnet, a strong magnet is attached so it will actually hold Junior's artwork. A photo POPout is made the same way as a photo cutout, except the image is printed twice. One copy is attached to the material and becomes the background. The other copy is also attached to the material and is cut just like you see above, and then glued onto the background so the subject POPs out.