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Everyone loves stickers, but if you love film just as much and have a bajillion surfaces that are crying out for some much needed attention, we have an idea for you.
Combine the two loves of your life and make your very own film stickers!
Use these nifty 35mm stickers to decorate your world – everything from your water bottle to your notebook or your computer (just maybe stay away from sticking them on your cat).
So get your camera, expose some slides and make your very own sticky film!
Since film exposures are a one-shot deal, everything you make will be unique, which takes personalization to a new level.
Besides, who doesn’t like stickers? You can put them on anything to make even the most cookie-cutter of objects suddenly very you (or very someone else if you’re giving them as a gift!).
What You’ll Need
Film of your choice (slide film works nice, but the glossy brown of negative film works great, too!)
A film camera
A sticker maker (you can find these at most craft stores for $10 – $20)
Scissors
Stuff to decorate with film stickers!
Step 1: Do what you do best – take pictures!
Bright colours on white backgrounds work great for slide film. The white backgrounds keep the sticker looking transparent and the bright colours will just make you happy.
If you’re using negative film, keep in mind that everything’s reversed! Red shows up as blue and vice versa. Use the colour reversal to your advantage or use the “invert” function in software like Photoshop and photograph your screen for something more realistic.
Step 2: Road trip to your favorite photo lab
Once you’ve finished filling up a roll of film with sticker-worthy shots, pay a visit to your local photo lab. Using the lingo of a true pro, tell the staff you want, “develop only, no mounting,” so you don’t have to spend all your time prying off the slide mounts or waste money on prints (unless you want them!).
Step 3: Cut, cut, cut
Now that you have a gorgeous strip of uncut positives or negatives, take some scissors to them and cut the strip down to individual exposures. It might feel a little unnatural at first – your mother always told you not to cut up your film – but you can do this!
Step 4: Make it sticky
This step will vary depending on what kind of sticker-maker you have, but follow the instructions and get those exposures nicely coated with glue.
Step 5: Stick it!
Now you should have between 24 or 36 sticky, filmy delights to pop onto whatever you want to dress up and make your own.
Other ideas for making and using these stickers
Since everyone loves stickers, why not use them as to advertise your photography? Make some featuring your logo and contact info and hand them out to potential clients.
Use them as old-fashioned letter sealers for birthday, mother’s day, and father’s day cards – include a special message to the recipient in the photo and they might just forget you only got them a card.
Take a picture of something familiar and mail it off to a who’s friend far from home.
Put them on sliding glass doors to help your houseguests avoid sore noses.
For that matter, dress up your windows and let the light shine on through some of your gorgeous pictures
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