Lace?

[Wags374]

My mom gave me a tub of lace to "play" with. Including some handmade stuff my grandmother made that is just stunning. But I'm not sure the best way to scan it in. I'm working with PSE3, so no magic extractor for me.

Are their any tricks I should know about? How should I go about scanning it in, black background, white background (the lace is white or off white)? And then how on earth do I cut it out without spending HOURS?

[Wendy]

Hi Jane ...

I usually scan things like this with a black background so that I can later use the magic wand to make my selections :)

Wendy

[Pauline]

Try a search on lace. I know that Nancy scanned some in and she gave some tips on a thread about it. She did say to iron it first and then yes I would use a black or contrasting background. You could then use the magic wand to select the black or other colour and delete it.

[kayser]

Yeah, I think Nancy used black felt for her lace.

[NMarti]

Yep - you're right. I scanned it with black felt, duplicated the layer, then selected the lace with the magic wand, worked on the new layer, then selected inverse and deleted. It erased all the black. Now delete the background layer, save as a PNG or GIF and there you have it. You may have to do some touchup selection of the black but this usually works pretty good. Now if you are using a dark color trim or lace, then use a white background to scan. I put the lace down, tape it, stretch it taut and tape the other end so it is straight, cover it with felt, then cover the whole scanner with felt so no light leaks in. I wouldn't recommend leaving the felt over the scanner any longer than it takes to scan though because of heat issues.

[Wags374]

Thanks for the suggestions!