Sinterklaas
kapoentje
gooi wat in mijn schoentje,
gooi wat in mijn laarsje
Dank u,
Sinterklaasje.
I remember that song!
It's the song that Kris
Kringle (Edmund Gwenn)
sings with the little Dutch girl in the 1947 movie,
"Miracle on 34th Street"!
I have met so many wonderful friends from many
countries
during the time I have spent on the internet.
One of my new
friends is a sweet lady from The Netherlands
and I have recently learned some
interesting Christmas traditions from that country.
St Nicholas arrives
early in Holland with his gifts, in November.
He is dressed in Bishop's robes
and journeys in a boat with his helper who is called Zwarte Piet.
My friend
makes a super Zwarte Piet! *big grin*
Many people go to Amsterdam docks to
greet him.
He rides a white horse through the streets in a great parade, amid
many festivities.
December 5th is Sinterklass Eve, when the children put out
their shoes,
filled with a carrot or hay for Sinterklaas' horse, and await
the morning.
Sinterklaas then fills the shoes of all the children with
sweets,
especially chocolate letters, and gifts.
Chocolate letters are
also exchanged between friends
during the Christmas season in The
Netherlands.
I hope you will enjoy making some chocolate letters to share
with your friends
and will also enjoy Vera's
Christmas Pages too!
Merry Christmas!
*knuffels* Auntie
Em
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please read my **TERMS OF USE** before doing
this tutorial.
Thanks! Auntie Em
This
tutorial assumes you have a basic knowledge of the workings of Paint Shop Pro.
You will also
need Eye Candy 3 for this tutorial.
Bring up a blank image form, transparent background, size 400 X
400 pixels in size.
Floodfill with white.
Add a new raster
layer.
Set your foreground color to 461A1A (a dark brown) and background
set to 5E2F05
Turn off your foreground color and use your Text tool…Floating
and Antialias checked
to place the letter you want to make (using the lighter
brown) on the canvas.
For my letters, I used the font Rockwell Extra Bold
size 200.
Leave selected.
Add a new raster layer.
Turn your foreground
color back on.
Use your Airbrush Tool to spray on the foreground color in
random “squiggles”
Add these mainly in the middle of the
letter.
Now, go to Effects > Geometric > Twirl >
-395 (negative 395)
Then go to Effects > Geometric > Wave
Horiz.
displacement: Amplitude and Wavelength both at 2
Vertical
displacement….Amplitude 12 Wavelength 100
Then use Effects…Blur…Gaussian Blur…2
Selections > Select None.
Turn off the white
background layer and merge visible layers.
You can turn on your white
background layer again.
Duplicate the layer with your letter on it and make
sure it’s the “active layer”.
Selections > Select all > Float
Now
apply Eye Candy 3 > Swirl > preset “Typical”
If you don't have
that particular preset in your Eye Candy 3, then use the following settings:
If you have Eye Candy 4000 and would like to use it
instead,
just use the Large Whirlpools preset and change the Streak Detail to
75.
You may want to apply this preset to that layer twice.
Selections > Select none.
Set layer properties
to Luminance…drop opacity to 35.
Turn off white background layer again and Merge
Visible layers.
Go to Effects…3D Effects…Inner bevel with the following
settings:
Edit > Copy > Edit > Paste as New Image >
File > Export as Picture Tube.
Bring up a new transparent image file 400 X 400
pixels.
Floodfill the background with white and add a new raster
layer.
Set the tubed letter in your Tool Options for Scale 100, Step Size 1,
Continuous and Incremental.
Apply the tube by holding down left mouse button
as you apply it and drag it slightly downward and to the right.
It may
take several tries to get a nice smooth, thick edge to your letter.
Don’t
worry if you have some “jaggy-looking” edges. I’ll show you how to fix
that.
Enlarge your chocolate letter so that you can see those angles with
the jaggy edges.
Use your Freehand Selection Tool set on Point to
Point…feather 0….antialias checked
Surround that edge and hit delete or cut.
Do this with any of the corners that need
straightening.
Now you have a nice three dimensional chocolate letter to tube
or to give to your friends!
*Vrolijk kerstfeest* to you!
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tutorial and graphics © Auntie Em
2001-2007