Creating Borders and Trims

Today's tutorial is on creating scalloped borders and other types of borders and trims. This tutorial works in the full version of Photoshop.

The first step is to create a border template. Go to File->New and set your dimensions to 1 inch height and the width to whatever length you want your border. Mine will be 12 inches.

Click on your brush tool in the tools palette and select a hard round brush at your desired diameter. I will be using 100 pt brush.



Open your brush palette, Window -> Brushes. Move the slider labeled "Spacing" to the right until the edges of the circles are just touching in the preview image.



Optional: You can adjust the width/height (roundness) of the brush by manipulating the circle on the axis in the dialogue box. Squeezing in the sides of the circle will create an oval brush, rotating the circle will effect the orientation of the brush.



Create a new, empty layer, Layer -> New -> Layer. Holding down the shift key, click and drag your cursor from one side of the canvas to the other.



You now have the basics of a scalloped border. If you want a straight edge on one side, select the rectangle tool. Click and drag to draw a long rectangle that overlaps the top half of the scalloped border.



Now your template is done. At this point you may want to save it for future uses with any layout for which you want a scalloped border. To customize the border, open a background paper.



Click and drag the background paper onto the same canvas as your border template.



Key Ctrl+G (Ctrl+Alt+G in PSCS2) to attach your background paper to the template shape.



Right click on the paper layer in the layers palette and select Merge Down from the drop down menu.



You can delete any remaining layers and save your border as a .png file or click and drag it directly onto a layout.



This tutorial uses a round brush as the simplest example, but you can make a variety of different borders using this technique by using different brushes. You can also create you own brush to use in making trims and borders. See the Creating Brushes tutorial for more information on making your own brush.