Magic Board - twelve dollars to better blog photos

I am the kind of gal who goes nuts in a stationary store. I am the kind of gal who goes crazy in a yarn store and will casually drop a few hundred dollars on fabric. But today, I want to tell you about the best twelve dollars that I ever spent on craft. Twelve dollars changed my world. Twelve dollars improved my craft photos and I credit those twelve dollars with half the blog readers that I have today. I'm going to let you in on my secret...

What will twelve dollars get you?


...a magic green board. (or blue or red or yellow. you pick!)

Supplies:
- one 2'x3' piece of thin MDF (mine is 1/4")
- one tester pot of paint (non-tacky matte finish, any colour)
- one small paint roller set

Directions:
Pick a colour that you love. Paint board. Apply as many coats as necessary to cover board and wait for paint to dry.


Why is it so magic, you ask?
It completely changed the quality of my crafting photos. Before my magic board, I was bound by a number of problems. Problems that I didn't even think about. The first and most obvious is that our 1940's seashell cream walls make me gag. They do nothing to bring out the fun vibrant fabrics that I like to sew with. The cream seems to absorb the light making everything around it look really drab.

Sexy, isn't it? We rent and I can't do anything to change their colour. With magic board though, I can choose any colour what I want. I wanted green. I had been searching for some wall stickers on Etsy and fell for a green living room and kitchen. I knew I couldn't paint our walls, but I could easily give the illusion of a wonderful house using a 2'x3' board.

And let's be honest gals... Aren't blogs, magazines and craft books just that? The illusion of something nice? So I went for green, but I'm feeling feisty this year and might try a sunny yellow on a second board to add to the mix for 2011. I've been collecting paint swatches (ok, hoarding them), what do you think? Choose your colour paint. If you don't like it, don't fret. It's cheap to buy another tin and paint over what you've done.


And don't forget you can always take a color sample to a paint shop, and they can custom mix paint for you. Take in your FMF posies and ask for Denyse Schmidt Blue or stop by with Kona Cactus to get the perfect green you crave.

My advice is to choose a non-tacky, matte paint. Tacky paint will pick up lint like nobody's business, and if your sewing space is anything like mine, this should be avoided at all costs. Choose matte because it minimizes the reflections in your photos and brings your eyes straight to your projects instead of the wall behind. Most paint shops sell cheap test pots which are small tins designed for doing test swatches on your walls. This should be all you need to coat your magic board. We used a roller brush for painting because it gives a more even finish than a paintbrush.

Magic board is really versatile. Depending on what I'm photographing, I can solve most any problem with supplies in my sewing room. Usually washi tape, a ball of yarn and some small clothes pins are all I need.


The washi tape is invaluable because it can peel off the board without removing the color. This means I can constantly rearrange what I'm displaying. I can add more rows of twine, pull the line tauter, move things higher or lower. I got mine in Japan, but it's readily available on Etsy.

The clothes pins were picked up at an office supply store quite cheaply. In Australia, they sell them based on weight, so you could even buy just two. Before I had these blue ones, I had some little wooden ones which I decorated with washi tape. It's a quick easy way to personalize your photos.

The twine is the easiest thing to come by. I find about half of my online fabric orders come bundled in twine or ribbon. I save these scraps and tape them to the wall until I use them again to send off packages of my own. When I can't find a bit of twine, I just unroll a ball of yarn and tape it to the magic board. When I'm done, I just wind it back up. This makes magic board really versatile and easy to customize.

The board solves problems that I didn't even know I had. If what I want to display needs to go horizontally, I can just rotate it. Voila, instead 3'x2' display. Sometimes I don't even tape things to the board, but instead stick things up on the cupboards behind it.

What on earth is that broom doing in the photo? Clearly I haven't used it all year. No time to sweep, there's sewing to be done!


If I want to change the eye line of my photo, I can just prop it up on something like my ironing board. Tip: If you take a photo and aren't happy with it, try changing the angle that you're shooting from. Instead of shooting dead on; shift up, down, left or right. Move closer or farther. A small change in angle makes a big difference.

Did you see in this photo, I just skipped the clothes line all together and put the hanger right over the board. You can't do that with a normal wall. One more problem solved! Don't worry, a new ironing board cover is high on my todo list. Mr B picked this one out special just for me... Thanks, honey!

I am lucky to have a room with lots of light, but magic board solves a huge problem that I have. At noon, I get harsh shadows from the window. In the morning, there's not enough light in craft room. The solution is easy enough. I just pick up magic board and carry it somewhere else. A new corner, another room... sometimes I even take it outside. Same great background with all sorts of light.

Want to take photos of bulky things that don't hang?

Just stick magic board on the floor. (thanks again Sheridan. I love them)

Or if you don't want to crawl around on the ground, you can stick it on a desk or lie it flat on your ironing board.

And best of all? Magic board is small and flat and can be tucked away behind a desk or cupboard when not in use! No excess clutter in your sewing space.

If you scroll back through the Badskirt archives or visit my flickr stream, you'll see my magic green background popping up everywhere. It lurks under piles of fabric. It stands tall behind children's clothing. It shows off the wonderful quilting bee blocks that I work on. And it consistently makes all of those things look just a little bit better. It's really made a difference for me.

I'm often asked for photo tips or complimented on my wonderful green wall. It's all a wonderful little illusion that is easy to make. Go on! You know you want one yourself! Choose your own flavour - red, blue or yellow. Twelve simple dollars to better blog photos.

Edit: yes kids, we could certainly go double-sided as suggested in the comments. Mr B and I even tried that ourselves. That's how I learned my lesson on tacky (as in sticky) paint. We foolishly painted it tacky blue. oops. Bummer for me a great lesson for you. :-) I can't wait to see everyone's board. let us know when you've put them to good use!