Make an advent calendar with Polaroid retro photos from Iceland

At first it was just the wish to breathe new life into an old picture frame - then it became a 'multifunctional Memoboard Islands Advent calendar'.

Clearing out the basement is not exactly one of my favorite activities. Everything that is currently not needed or not needed at all disappears on the lowest floor. Out of sight - out of mind. This is what happened to a 100x75cm canvas printout of one of my photos. Because of its size, the picture was constantly getting in the way. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. But what else should I do with it?

The frame

To match the frame, I got a thin, 75x100x3 mm sheet of plywood as a back wall from the hardware store. I removed the existing canvas, closed the existing holes and cracks with a little filler and began painting. So that the wood structure can still shimmer through slightly, I painted the frame thinly with white emulsion paint to match the furnishings. For the back wall I chose the wall color. The whole thing shouldn't become too powerful, but integrate itself inconspicuously.

After drying, I screwed the back wall firmly to the frame with 10 wood screws. The picture hangers were nailed to the upper picture rails and the board could be on the wall.

Attach the metal clips

For my calendar I used the Maul letter clips with a width of 3 cm (Pack of 10 ) verwendet. It is cheaper, to simply use wooden clothespins and glue them on with a hot glue gun. If you decide to use metal clips, there are still a few challenges to overcome:

Polaroid Retro-Fotos

If you already have perfect Instagram photos, you can quickly finish this step. It was a challenge for me. I take photos with a full-frame digital camera. 'Quickly' to find 24 suitable, square photos from my abundant stock of Icelandic pictures somehow did not work. Immediately I got lost in vacation memories and had to concentrate to stick with it. Did the photo match the calendar in terms of color and theme? Was it technically ok? How did the square image look?

Rückseite der Polaroid Retro-Fotos

Real Polaroids have a black field on the back. I wanted to use this optics for the numbering as well as Christmas, Icelandic pictures. I drew my motifs on white paper with a black pen. I scanned the sketches so that I could edit them digitally. Using Photoshop, I inverted the colors and added text and numbers. You can find the 24 finished illustrations in my digital advent calendar 2021 ..
It is easier if you take a touch-up pen and draw the numbers and motifs on the back yourself. Or you can use pre-made Advent numbering as offered by some providers.

For my requirements I decided for 'cewe' on the basis of the shipping costs (product can be picked up in the drugstore around the corner) and the better software support. I am not completely satisfied, however. The supplied 'retro prints' are better cardboard cards and both haptically and visually far from a Polaroid.

Nevertheless, the cards serve their intended purpose. The print is clean and the 300 g / m² thick paper is grippy and stable.

After I arranged them appropriately, it slowly got dark. I got a cup of tea and a fresh baked homemade cinnamon roll from the kitchen , lit the candles, put on Agnes Obel's music and enjoyed the moment.

Weihnachten