Create Your Own Unique Wall Art for (Almost) Free
I came across a link for Rasterbator (yes, the name is skeevy sounding but not gross when you click on the link) in a back issue of Martha Stewart Living yesterday, and had to give it a try right away. Through their free and simple to use program you can upload any photo or image of your choosing and they will instantly convert it into an enlarged rasterized version (showing the shapes as pixilated dots) that you can print, reassemble, and hang on your wall in giant poster form. Free art...almost—you'll just pay for the cost of paper and ink, or having it printed at a copy shop!
Here's the photo of our dog Stella that I had converted. Once rasterized and printed my daughter and I put all the pieces together (it was like piecing together a really fun surprise puzzle—I didn't tell her what the image was going to be of, so she was really excited when Stella's face finally took shape). I'm sure you could be a lot more precise with the reassembly, but I think that it looks great even with just a few pieces of masking tape holding it together in back. For a more long term display solution I'm thinking I might pick up an affordable frame from our local craft store.
A few tips: Look for images to convert that don't have a lot of really dark areas or you will use quite a bit of black ink to print those portions. The printed sheet are also not numbered for the order that they will be reassembled in, but ours printed out with the bottom row (from right to left) printing first...and the top row (from right to left) at the end. When it asks if you'd like to include a faint border to aid in trimming your pages, be sure to select "yes." Now go try it out with your own images, and have fun! I'd love to hear how it goes! xo Ez
Psst...Wouldn't this also make a great gift or memorable decor for a party?! Love it!
21 Lovely Comments | Email Article | found in D.I.Y. + Projects, Downloads + Printables, Home Decor Print Article | Share This | 
| by Ez Tuesday, October 18, 2011 
Reader Comments (21)
I love that you put it together with someone who didn't know what it was going to be! :)
NICE!
I used to live in a big loft space, and my husband and I used the Rasterbator to create giant art for a big, empty white wall. We hung a huge sheet of plywood from heavy-duty hooks and created a grid on it out of self-stick plastic sheet protectors from an office supply store. We changed up the images a couple times a year, sometimes color, sometimes black and white. It was really fun and is one of the things I miss since we moved into a house with more limited wall space!
...and if you happen to have Photoshop you can do this w/out rasterbating. ;)
That's pretty cool... I'm going to give it a try later on today!
OH! I was JUST going to blog about this - I found it recently while randomly surfing - Guess you beat me to it! ;) I can't wait to actually try it out - SOO much cheaper than buying say, a print of Audrey Hepburn, your favorite musician, etc! And I also thought it would make a great gift - maybe the recipient's idol, mailed as flat sheets, so they can assemble it! S xx
http://bedroomcrafter.blogspot.com/
Ez, you always find the coolest stuff! There's a birthday party coming up in the cozy brick house at the end of the week. I think I'll be giving this site a try! Thanks!
Thankyou for the find
and I love STELA
VAL
This is really cool! I'm definitely going to try it. I think it'd be fun to do for parties--I can only imagine how delighted the kids I babysit would be if they saw a poster-sized, super-cool photo of themselves on the wall at their birthday.
Thanks for all your comments today sweets! This really is so fun and simple there's no reason not to try it. I hope you will. And Kristen I love your idea of printing out a new image every few months and changing up the art in your space! Genius! xo Ez
So cool! we just did something like this for a backgound shoot of the new S Magazine (out tomorrow!), with a beautifull drawing in black and white (trees and bushes), that we reprinted in craft paper in a huge size (57 a4 sheets of paper and what a puzzle... uff!)
I can't wait to try this! I just got a new kitten, he will obviously have to be my test subject. I also emailed this to everyone who I could think of- so, so good!
THANKS! This comes in perfect time for my son's birthday party this weekend - I was just trying to figure out how to print big pictures of the handsome little darling without breaking the bank. . . it's like you read my mind...I'll post pictures when I get it done!
This is great!!! I am definitely doing this!! :) Thank you so much for sharing.
Nice and neat! Thanks for sharing this brilliant idea. This will be perfect on my daughter's room. Thumbs up!
What a super cool idea! I've been thinking about things to make big, inexpensive art from for quite some time, and this is genius! Thanks for linking :-)
Relatable Style
I remember that site from years ago (I printed a a photo I took of Big Ben after I got back from London in 2004) - I'm gong to have to give it another try.
This is so very cool!
You inspired me! http://thatsmegnacios.blogspot.com/2011/10/office-art.html I surprised my husband by putting it together before he woke up this morning. Turned out waaaaay better than I expected. Thanks!!!
Ahhh!!! I think everyone crashed the server!!! I hope this is back up in time for our end of the year soccer party. This green dragon isn't going to rasterbate itself. :)
such a cute doggy! great way to make the interior original
creative. i like it