Just started fixing up my magic room at my new home. I have an old black foot locker that has held all my magic instructions for years. It has a nice old patina on it and think with the right details might make a neat coffee table in the center of the room. I was thinking of doing small postcard size magic posters from the early 20th century deco pauged on the outside. Looking for some source to clip the poster photos from. Maybe an inexpensive book or magazine that would have some that would work. not sure how well clips out of a magazine would hold up to the process, might need to be on thicker paper. Also I would like to have a flat or at least satin finish so it looks old still.

The only collection of magic posters I have is a very large oversize format book, you would need a large format scanner or a program like scan, Stitch, & Share by Serif. Then you would have to enhance the poster with a photo program as Scan, Stitch & Share only scans at 200 dpi. Norm Nielsen website is copy protected, other sites I have found are so small, they are useless to use. I have tried but I am no expert with a photo enhancing program, but most will only work well at a 25% increase.

Some Satin paints cloud the underlying layer. I read that a gloss finish 1st then a satin finish gives a very nice look.

The book is called something like 100 Magic Posters, it is stored and cannot get to it right now.

The Library of Congress has some downloadable poster art, if you want to print it yourself.

Decoupage.
Sorry to be an ass, but, well you know.
As an aside, use a water based adhesive before lacquering.
Have fun !

Sent you a PM.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but..

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Magic-Poster......redirect

Here the book I was referring to: http://www.amazon.com/Years-Posters-Char......BWK4A1X6

That DVD looks great for your purpose, I will have to put that on my wish list.

Do you know that if you use Microsoft word, and make a picture box, then import a photo into it, you can resize to the size you want simply by clicking on it and moving the corner. It will stay in proportion and you can then print it.

Thanks to everybody for the help. The workshop is such a great resource to have. I will post a pic when I get it done.

Not sure if there are any copyright issues, but you can easily access some auction sites' archives and print out the poster imagery that you'd like. Chances are they are not large files, but if you are keeping your reproductions to a minimum, the DPI should be sufficient.

I second this. It's a great book for your purpose.

This is a great set of images as well http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3836553......=desktop

Colinj,

Those postcards are what I decided to use for the project. I liked the idea of the images being on card stock and not having to print anything here. Ordered the cards and look forward to getting them.

Gimpy

You could also get a copy of the Taschen Magic 1400s - 1950s daily calendar from a couple of years ago. There are about 3550 posters printed in that, all about the same size. They may prove too small, but I used the ones I liked on a similar project and they were terrific. The paper was a good quality, so it made the process easy, and gave a great result. Those calendars are still around, and usually at a discount.

The desk diary has larger pics, but not as many, obviously -- maybe about 45 - 50.

YMMV

Pix

Got the set of post card magic posters last week. I must say they are quite nice. Lots to choose from and can think of a bunch of ideas to use the rest of them. Used modge podge to put the cards on the top of the box yesterday. The cards were easy to put on without any bubbles or lifted edges. Im not supper happy with the look right now It made the foot locker look new even though I used the matte finish type. All the cards have white borders on them so they kind of pop out. I tried cutting off the borders but it didn't look even. Then tried brushing them with coffee, that looked perfect but the modge podge washed it all off. I think I will ad some brown paint to the modge podge for the next coat. Just want the thing to look old.

Gimpy, next time you need to give something a permanent aged look, try brown and black shoe dye, heavily thinned with denatured alcohol, and dry-brushed onto the surface. It will achieve the same effect as the coffee, and it should be permanent.