All Blown Up: How to Create Custom Large-Scale Artwork

This ManMade guest post was written by K. Faith Morgan

Finding art for your home can be tough task: you can go the dorm room approach and frame a poster, take the generic route and settle for the weird Tuscan-paintings from the housewares store, or invest in an original piece, which can be costly.

But check out these options, which each take something tiny and blow them up to featured proportions:

created at: 02/04/2011

Blueprint (Desire to Inspire)

created at: 02/04/2011

Playing Cards (Blueprint Magazine)

created at: 02/04/2011

Envelope (Southern Living Magazine

Stamp (Design*Sponge

You likes? Cool, let’s make our own.

Materials and Tools

  • Source material 
  • large vintage frame
  • Computer and scanner 

1. Find an image you love.  I chose a page from a vintage book. Scan at high resolution. Make any necessary color and cropping adjustments.

2. Have a large format print made either by a photographic enlargement service or reprographic printer.

3. Frame and hang your print.

created at: 02/04/2011

Have other ideas for source material? Post ’em in the comments below.

created at: 01/31/2011

K. Faith Morgan is a designer, stylist, online editor, and producer. “I am a southern girl, but design is my football.  As a design school graduate and the child of two artists, I can’t follow X’s on a football field, but John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Madame X makes my heart skip a beat. I believe great design can change lives and life is too short for beige.”https://www.kfaithmorgan.com/