DIY wood grain decals

[sjordan2]

This might have been covered here before, but I couldn't find it in the first several pages of this topic. I posted this in Car Kit Reviews in reference to the new kit thread on the '49 Mercury woody wagon, but I thought it would have wider application here.

A DIY suggestion -- If you download wood pattern samples from wood supplier websites, you can use them as is, or put them into a graphics program and adjust the color, sharpness, size, etc. any way you want and print out on paper or decal paper.

Here's how I find what I'm looking for:

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&q=wood+grain+samples&gbv=2&oq=wood+grain+samples&gs_l=img.12..0.1703.5916.0.8714.18.10.0.8.8.0.155.600.9j1.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.3pd-T4OUaRE

Just a few examples.

[Bernard Kron]

Super idea.

For Photoshop users you can create or aquire seamless patterns that will repeat across whatever layers you want to fill with them. Here's a Google seartch I did for such patterns: an entire page of free wood patterns of various sorts for Photoshop: http://www.google.com/search?q=photoshop+wood+grain+patterns&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1. As an example of what's out there here's just the very first result on the page: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/28-high-resolution-wood-textures-for-designers/. And an example from that page:

Edited March 4, 2013 by Bernard Kron

[sjordan2]

You really don't need expensive software like Photoshop, Illustrator or Corel. All you need is probably contained in your printer/scanner software, and perhaps preloaded on your computer.

[CadillacPat]

Just remember that you want the highest resolution images you can get.

Still, I prefer to enhance the ones I use with color adjustments and tint overlays.

CadillacPat

[Duntov]

Wow.... great idea!!!

[Kit Basher]

If you would like to see pictures of almost every kind of wood in the world, check out this veneer site: http://www.certainlywood.com/woodmenu2.cfm?p=6