Let’s fold a ribbon in PSPX!

Open a 3x3 image at 200 ppi. Find a ribbon in your browser and drag it into your canvas. I chose this wide one from my Julia’s Joy kit, but any ribbon will do.

Now duplicate your layer and move it slightly so that you are using a different part of your ribbon for the top layer (this just makes it look less “digital” if the two parts of the ribbon are not identical.)

This is the time that I save my document.

Use your Selection tool to create a rectangle so that your ribbon is about 2 inches long. Selections>Invert>Delete. Now hit CTRD+D to get rid of the selection.

Then click on the bottom layer and make another rectangle a bit longer than the first one. Selections>Invert>Delete again. You now have two short pieces of ribbon.

On the top layer, select your Deform tool and rotate so that the top ribbon is angled over the bottom one how you like it. Rotate the bottom one a little too.

Use your Move tool to position an edge of top ribbon on the edge over the bottom ribbon like this:

On the top ribbon I like the angle of the fold to be different from the angle of the cut of ribbon, so I use a large square eraser at a low angle to trim the folded part like this:

Now erase the bottom part of the ribbon where the fold is like this:

Now it’s time to add the special touches for realism: drop shadows, dodging, burning and warping.

I start with warping the ribbons a little. They are both so perfect and straight, unlike real life ribbons that have a little wave to them.

I start with the top ribbon, making the fold a little curved. Select your warp brush, the Push setting, a size a little smaller than your ribbon.

Now I want to make a curve in the middle of the ribbon like this, so I make the size of the warp tool much larger:

Time for the shadow on the top ribbon. Here are the settings I used, and note that I put the shadow on its own layer.

Now I want to trim the tail of the bottom ribbon to a different angle using my eraser brush.

And here’s where I’m happy that I put the shadow of the top ribbon on its own layer because I like the angle of the bottom tail and want to adjust the top one.

Delete the shadow layer and then erase the top ribbon tail like this:

Apply your shadow to the top ribbon again, and now it’s time to dodge and burn – two staples of realistic element creation. The trick to dodging and burning is to have your hardness and opacity set very low, and use your UNDO option a lot.

I begin by burning some darker parts of the top ribbon that I think would look more real by adding the shadowed dimension. The bottom part of the fold gets my first attention.

Now I want to darken the lower ribbon like this:

I made this ribbon with a sheen in it already, but I’m going to add more by using the Dodge tool at a very low opacity and hardness like this to finish the illusion of the dimension of the fold:

Now is the time I think about what fastener I’m going to use. A button? A snap? Stitching? A brad? An eyelet? A staple? I think I’ll try a staple. So I go searching for one in my folders (If you don’t have one, there is a Basic freebie pack in the Freebie Gallery with a staple in it. Here’s the link: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=76832&cat=754).

I add my staple and drop shadow.

I see that I need to burn a little of the ribbon under the staple.

I save the document and then “Save Copy As”>PNG file so I have the original in pspimage format and a .png version to drag into my layout.

Now it’s ready to go onto a tag or whatever I choose to put a folded ribbon on. Don’t forget to add your drop shadow.

Here’s the final result one of Lauren’s tags in the freebie gallery with my Julia’s Joy kit: