Wool Skeiner Tutorial

This tutorial was written with PSP 7. All you will need is the skeiner.zip file.

The terms of use are here

NOTE: Each step which needs a new layer will use the format with the name of the new layer, and then the selection for that layer. So Whatever layer - whatever.sel, means make a new layer Whatever, and then get the whatever.sel file by going to Selections - Load from disk.

If you aren't familiar with using the Colour Pallette for patterns, there is a short explanation here

1. Open a new file, 300 x 450 pixels. Name this layer Back Legs and get 01backlegs.sel. Flood-fill with the wood pattern of your choice (I used the Finished Wood pattern in the Colour Pallette, Scale 50, Angle 0^o. The Stained Wood pattern looks good, too.) Then go to

Effects - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel - Frame Preset, and apply.

2. Treadle Sides layer - 02treadlesides.sel. Flood-fill with your wood pattern, and then go to

Colors - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast
Brightness minus 40, Contrast 0

Depending on the colour of your wood, you may want to use a different setting for the Brightness.

3. Treadles layer - 03treadles. Flood-fill with your pattern.

Ropes. Click on the Tube Tool and scroll until you find the Rope tube. Set the scale to around 30, and draw two straight lines from the top of the treadles, up about two squares. (The top of the rope will be hidden.)

4. Front Legs layer - 04frontlegs. Flood-fill. Apply the same Inner Bevel as before (the Frame preset), but change the Width to 15.

5. Front Seat layer - 05frontseat.sel. Flood-fill, and go to Colors - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast - Brightness minus 40 again.

6. Seat layer - 06seat.sel. Flood-fill.

7. Lower Spokes layer - 07lowerspokes.sel. Flood-fill and apply the same Inner Bevel you just used.

8. Back Wheel layer - 08backwheel.sel. Flood-fill and darken Brightness to minus 40.

9. Lower Wheel layer - 09lowerwheel.sel. Flood-fill and go to

Selections - Modify - Contract - 20 pixels
Hit DELETE or CTRL-X, then go to
Selections - Modify - Contract - 20 pixels.
Flood-fill with your wood pattern and go to
Effects - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel , same settings.

10. Crosspiece layer - 10crosspiece.sel. Flood-fill. (We'll put on the knob later.)

11. Seat Back layer - 11seatback.sel. Flood-fill and use the same Inner Bevel, just changing the Width to 1.

12. Spokes layer - 12spokes.sel. Flood-fill and apply the Inner Bevel, changing the Width to 15.

Rope. Click on the Tube Tool and scroll until you find the Rope tube. Set the scale to around 30, and draw the small rope piece like this:

Then adjust the Brightness to minus 20.

13. Yarn layer. We'll come back to this layer after the pegs are in place. If you really don't want to do this, you can open the yarn.psp image, copy (CTRL-C), go back to your skeiner image and paste into place (CTRL-E). However, why not give it a try first--the directions are lower down.

14. Centre Back layer - 13centreback.sel. Flood-fill and darken by minus 40.

15. Centre layer - 14centre.sel. Flood-fill. Set your background colour to black. Then, using the Air Brush tool with the following settings, draw a small circle in the middle of the Centre by right-clicking.

Round, Size 5, Hardness 100
Opacity 100, Step 25, Density 100

16. Pegs layer - 15pegs.sel. Flood-fill and going to Colors - Adjust - Brightness/Contrast, change the Brightness to plus 50.

17. Peg Heads layer - Flood-fill and apply the same Inner Bevel again. (There is no peghead where the rope is.)

18. Click on the Yarn layer we made earlier, in the Layer Pallette. Set your foreground colour to any dark colour you like (I used #7F3B3B), turn off the background, and then click on the Draw Tool and use the following settings:

Freehand Line
Width 1
Line Style #1
Antialias checked, the other boxes not checked.

Now, draw about 8 lines from spoke to spoke, just above the pegs, but below the peg heads. The lines don't have to be straight--all you have to do is to aim for the points above the pegs--in fact, the messier, the better.. Here are the points (more or less) to aim for:

19.Now just draw two straight lines in your wool colour from the lower wheel, but change the Width to 2.

Congratulations! I hope you like your Skeiner.

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