Scotch Tape

Scotch Tape

Scotch Tape
Skill level: Basic
Programs used: Photoshop 6

You've probably seen it somewhere on the net, those pieces of paper which look like they're being held up by a piece of tape. The one's I'm going to show you today will allow you to stick things on your screen with ease.

1. Create a new canvas, 400 x 400 pixels with a black background, and open the channels palette, by clicking on the "Channels" tab next to the "Layers" tab in the layers palette. Create a new channel by clicking on the "Create new channel" button

and activate this channel by left-clicking on the channel called "Alpha 1".

2. Select the rectangular marquee tool

and make a selection in the center of the canvas. Now select the paint bucket tool

and fill the selection with pure white.

3. Keep this selected and now select the "Filter>Pixelate>Mezzotint" menu command and choose "Coarse Dots" as the value. Use this filter another 2 times by pressing "CTRL+F" twice.

4. Keep this selected again, and select the "Filter>Noise>Dust and Scratches" menu command and have the "Radius" value as 6 or above, depending on the value at which the noise inside the white disappears. If there are still black dots inside the white square, increase the "Radius" value till the dots disappear. You can now deselect by pressing "CTRL+D". Your square should now look like it has been cut out.

5. Using the rectangular marquee tool

make a selection in the middle of the white square. Make this selection the size that you would like the scotch tape to be. Press "SHIFT+CTRL+I" to inverse the selection, and fill this inverse with black using the paint bucket tool

to clear the unwanted portions of the square. Press "SHIFT+CTRL+I" again to inverse the selection back to the original.

6. Now press select the "Edit>Transform>Rotate" and rotate the selection about 45º counter clockwise. Press "ENTER" to accept the transformation, then press "SHIFT+CTRL+I" to inverse the selection. Press "SHIFT+BACKSPACE" to bring up the "Fill" window, and choose to fill the selection with black.

7. Make a copy of "Alpha 1" by dragging the channel into the "Create new channel" button. A new channel should appear called "Alpha 1 copy". Activate this layer by left clicking on it and make a perfect selection of it by holding "CTRL" and clicking on the "Alpha 1 copy" channel in the channels palette. Now select the "Filter>Pixelate>Mezzotint" menu command, again choosing "Coarse Dots" as the value.

8. Hold down "CTRL" and left-click on the "Alpha 1" channel and go back to the layers palette. Click on the "Create new layer" button

and fill this layer with white. Set the blending mode to screen and the opacity to 15%.

8. Go back to the channels palette and make a perfect selection of the "Alpha 1" channel. Inverse this selection and now hold "SHIFT+CTRL" and left click on the "Alpha 1 copy" channel. Inverse your selection again and you should have the "bubbles" selected. Go to the layers palette and create a new layer above the layer with the tape on it. Fill the selection with white (using "SHIFT+BACKSPACE") and set the blending mode to screen and the opacity to 12%. Deselect.

9. This is scotch tape for a black background... if you wanted it for a white background, simply change the blending mode of the tape layer to multiply and leave the opacity, and make sure the tape is black instead of white (make a perfect selection of the tape, and fill it ("SHIFT+BACKSPACE)). The bubbles' opacity should be changed to 65%.

And there you have it, scotch tape. Due to the opacity settings, the tape is transparent, and so if you place the tape over images, the image below will be seen through the tape.

Scotch Tape Skill level: Basic Programs used: Photoshop 6

Scotch Tape
Skill level: Basic
Programs used: Photoshop 6