How to make creepy old photographs

For a while now I've been wondering why anyone would want the Tim Holtz Found Relatives cards. It seemed really weird to me that you would make something with photographs of people you don't know. Then as I worked on my Halloween Project I realised I was going to need some pictures. Not just photos, but old spooky ones. So I set to and made some that are a bit creepier than the Tim Holtz set, but I do get what they are for now. It's part of getting that feel right.

Here is how I made my old and weird photographs for my halloween project though this might be useful for all kinds of stuff.

I used, my iphone, Canon Selphy scissors and tea.

First you need some digital versions of old photos. You could scan something you have already or find something online. Look for royalty-free, public domain or creative commons images; these generally mean you can use them (you still need to check the license). National archives are also a good place to look, there are several on Flickr.

Get your image set up - I used the PicFrame app to get two images on one 6x4. Old pictures were usually smaller.

Then I adjusted the colour using the PicTapGo app, any editing app will do or you could do this on a computer. I gave it an orange-y brown hue.

Print out your pictures and cut them to size.

I like to round the corners on some - it looks more old-fashioned to me (and I have a corner rounding device).

Then they need messing up a bit. I 'distressed' the edges by running my scissors along the sides. There is a tool you can get for this, but I find scissors and fingernails work fine.

Rough them up by bending them and create a couple of folds. The paper the Selphy uses is really glossy which doesn't help in this instance, I had to run my scissors along the fold to make it look worn.

One thing the glossy paper is good for is peeling the edges, you can peel up the film layers and see the paper inside. For the fortune teller lady I dipped the edges in a very strong cup of tea afterwards so the inside didn't look so bright white.

So there they are, a bunch of messed up all photos ready for the 'Cabinet of Curiosities'. Stay tuned to see the finished project later in the month.