STEP 1
This tutorial is "layer-intensive"! I will occasionally suggest merging layers to make things more manageable, but you may keep all your layers if you wish! I will NOT always repeat the "hide all layers except those that are to be merged" and "merge visible" commands, nor will I always remind you to unhide all layers after merging! These instructions are understood to be there in this tutorial.
Tip #1: When you are working with several layers, it is sometimes easier to hide the layers you want to merge, right-click on one of the remaining layers, and choose View...Invert from the pop-up menu. This leaves the layers you want to merge visible, and hides all the other layers.
Tip #2: To restore visibility for all layers when there are many of them, rather than clicking on the Visibility button for each layer, right-click on any layer, and choose View...All from the pop-up menu!
Unless instructed otherwise, new layers will always be added to the TOP of the layer stack!
For this shelf, I'm using the ss-brwood pattern provided with this tutorial. You can use this one, or another of your own choosing. If you are using the ss-brwood pattern, open it now. I am also using Super BladePro, with Dee's Gold Glass BladePro preset for all the gold trim. However, you do not need to have BladePro or Super BladePro to complete this tutorial - alternatives are provided for the trim.
Set the foreground style to solid, and color to white. Set the background style to pattern and select your wood pattern, Scale = 50%, Angle = 0 (grain across).
Open the bakersrack.psp image. Duplicate the image and close the original. Don't panic - all the selections are there - you just can't see them yet!
Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftfoot". Load the leftfoot selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP gold glass preset.
Note: If you do not have BladePro or Super BladePro, you can use the Texture...Sculpture effect with the Gold preset, or Flood Fill with a shiny gold pattern and apply an inner bevel with the Metallic preset!
Deselect. You may want to duplicate the foot to give it extra "body"! If you do so, merge the 2 foot layers and rename merged layer "leftfoot" before continuing.
Duplicate the "leftfoot" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the "leftfoot" and "Copy of leftfoot" layers and rename the merged layer "feet". Save your work!
STEP 2
Add a new raster layer, naming it "frontpost-left". Load the frontpost-left selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect. Duplicate the "frontpost-left" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two front post layers and rename the merged layer "frontposts". Save your work!
STEP 3
Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftloop". Load the leftloop selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect. Duplicate the "leftloop" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two loop layers and rename the merged layer "loops". Save your work!
STEP 4
Add a new raster layer, naming it "centerpost". Load the centerpost selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect and save!
STEP 5
Add a new raster layer, naming it "lefttopcurve". Load the lefttopcurve selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect. Duplicate the "lefttopcurve" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two curve layers and rename the merged layer "topcurves". Save your work!
STEP 6
Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftlowercurve". Load the leftlowercurve selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect. Duplicate the "leftlowercurve" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two curve layers and rename the merged layer "lowercurves". Save your work!
STEP 7
Add a new raster layer, naming it "decoration". Load the decoration selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect and save!
STEP 8
Add a new raster layer, naming it "backpost-left". Load the backpost-left selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect. Duplicate the "backpost-left" layer, mirror the duplicate layer.
Now let's merge ALL the top metallicwork layers, renaming the merged layer "top". You should now have only three layers, "top", "feet", and "Layer1". Save your work!
STEP 9
Add a new raster layer, naming it "glassholder". Load the glassholder selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect and save.
STEP 10
Add a new raster layer, naming it "bottleholder". Load the bottleholder selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with white, and apply the BP Gold Glass preset.
Deselect and save.
STEP 11
Use the Style Switcher to reverse the foreground and background styles, so that your foreground now has the wood pattern. Add a new raster layer, naming it "shelves". Load the shelves selection from the alpha channel, Flood Fill with the wood pattern, and apply the following inner bevel:
Bevel (2nd one, top row), Width (4), Smoothness (0), Depth (3), Ambience (-4),
Shininess (0), Color (white), Angle (326), Intensity (33), Elevation (53)
Deselect and save your work!
STEP 12
Add a new raster layer, naming it "baseback". Load the baseback selection from the alpha channel. Change the Angle of the foreground pattern to 90 (grain up and down), and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Darken by choosing Colors...Adjust...Brightness/Contrast with Brightness = -85 (minus 85) and Contrast = 0.
Deselect and save!
STEP 13
Add a new raster layer, naming it "basehtrim". Load the basehtrim selection from the alpha channel. Change the Angle of the foreground pattern to 0 and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 11.
Deselect and save!
STEP 14
Add a new raster layer, naming it "basevtrim". Load the basevtrim selection from the alpha channel. Change the Angle of the foreground pattern to 90 and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 11.
Deselect and save!
STEP 15
Add a new raster layer, naming it "base-bottomtrim". Load the base-bottomtrim selection from the alpha channel. Change the Angle of the foreground pattern to 0 and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 11 EXCEPT increase the Depth to 6.
Deselect and save!
STEP 16
Add a new raster layer, naming it "base-top". Load the base-top selection from the alpha channel and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 15.
Deselect and save!
STEP 17
Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftdrawer". Load the leftdrawer selection from the alpha channel and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 15.
Deselect. Duplicate the "leftdrawer" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two drawer layers, renaming the merged layer "drawers".
Deselect and save!
STEP 18
Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftdoor". Load the leftdoor-horizontal selection from the alpha channel and Flood Fill with the wood pattern.
On the same layer, load the leftdoor-vertical selection from the alpha channel. Change the Angle of the foreground pattern to 90 and Flood Fill with the wood pattern. Deselect. Apply the same inner bevel as in Step 15, EXCEPT decrease Depth to 4.
Duplicate the "leftdoor" layer, mirror the duplicate layer, then merge the two door layers and rename the merged layer "doors".
Save your work!
STEP 19
Activate the "drawers" layer, and add a new raster layer, naming it "hinge" - this layer must be below the "doors" layer. Open the ss-hinge image provided in the downloads, copy it, and returning to the baker's rack image, paste as a new selection, moving it to the edge of the left door. I placed my hinge so that the top of the hinge was even with the opening in the center of the door, and the right edge of the hinge just under the edge of the door! When you have the hinge in place, deselect. This screenshot shows the placement of the first hinge (white arrow):
Duplicate the "hinge" layer and mirror for the right top hinge. Then duplicate the "hinge" layer again, moving the duplicate into place at the bottom of the left door - I placed this hinge so the bottom of the hinge was even with the opening in the center of the door. Finally, duplicate this last hinge and mirror for the right bottom hinge. Use the Guides as needed to precisely locate the hinges!
When you are satisfied with the placement of your hinges, hide all layers but the hinge layers, merge visible, and rename the merged layer "hinges". Unhide all layers.
Save your work!
STEP 20
Activate the "doors" layer. Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftdrawerknob". Use the Style Switcher to reverse the foreground and background styles, making the background style the wood pattern. Change the Angle of the background pattern to 0. Set the foreground style to No Style (null), and choose the Preset Shapes tool with the following settings:
Shape Type (Ellipse), Retain style and Create as vector UNchecked, Antialias CHECKED,
Line width (1), Line style (#1 Solid)
Using the RIGHT mouse button, and with the SHIFT key pressed, draw a 9-pixel circle starting at coordinates (88,275). Apply the same inner bevel we've been using, increasing the Depth back to 6.
Apply the following drop shadow:
Vertical offset (1), Horizontal offset (1), Opacity (63), Blur (6.2), Shadow color (black)
Save your work!
STEP 21
Duplicate the "leftdrawerknob" layer, renaming the duplicate layer "plug". Just in case you weren't a carpenter in a previous life, "plugs" are used to fill screw holes so the screws used to hold the furniture together are hidden! OK, I know we don't have any screws, but we're still going to add the plugs so our furniture will look realistic!
Resize the "plug" layer by 50%, making sure Resize all layers is UNchecked. Darken by choosing Colors...Adjust...Brightness/Contrast with Brightness = -50 (minus 50) and Contrast = 0, and move into position just outside the top of the left drawer, as indicated by the white arrow:
Duplicate the "plug" layer, and mirror the duplicate layer. Duplicate the "plug" layer again, and move the duplicate into position just outside the bottom of the left door. Duplicate this layer, and mirror the duplicate layer for the fourth plug. When you are satisfied with the placement of the plugs, hide all layers except the plug layers, merge visible, and rename the merged layer "plugs". Unhide all layers.
Save your work!
STEP 22
Now let's finish up with the knobs. Duplicate the "leftdrawerknob" layer and mirror the duplicate layer, renaming it "rightdrawerknob". Duplicate the "leftdrawerknob" layer again, renaming it "leftdoorknob", and move into position on the left door. Duplicate the "leftdoorknob", mirror the duplicate layer, and rename this layer "rightdoorknob". When you are satisfied with the placement of the knobs, hide all layers except the 4 knob layers, merge visible, and rename the merged layer "knobs".
Save your work!
STEP 23
We're almost done, so hang in there! Let's add the grills to the doors!
Set the foreground style to pattern. Open the ss-dia.psp image provided with this tutorial, and select it as the pattern. Ladyoz teaches how to make this diamond lense filter in her Diamond Overlay tutorial - thank you, Ladyoz, for this extraordinary pattern! Set the Scale to 10 and the Angle to 0.
Activate the "hinges" layer. Add a new raster layer, naming it "leftgrill" and load the leftgrill selection from the alpha channel. Flood Fill the selection with the diamond pattern. Deselect. I duplicated this layer to get a "thicker" grill, then merged the 2 layers, renaming as "leftgrill". Sharpen the "leftgrill" layer. To get the right grill, duplicate the "leftgrill" layer, mirror, and then merge the two grill layers, renaming the merged layer "grills".
Deselect and save!
STEP 24
Just some finishing touches left! Duplicate the "glassholder" layer 3 or 4 times and move into position along the bottom of the top shelf. Your glasses should just fit into the slots! Once you're satisfied with the placement of the glassholders, you can merge all the glassholder layers, renaming the merged layer "glassholders".
Repeat with the "bottleholder" layer, adding 3 more bottleholders along the bottom of the bottom shelf, merging the bottleholder layers, and renaming the merged layer "bottleholders".
You can now merge all layers except "Layer1" and the "baseback" layers. The "baseback" layer must be retained as a separate layer - be sure it is located below the "Merged" layer in the layer stack, so that you can add items to the cupboards!
And that's it - you're done! You can replace the black background with one of your choosing, and then it's time to decorate! Anything you add to the cupboards should be placed on layers inserted between the "baseback" and "Merged" layers, while items on the shelves above the base should be added to layers inserted above the "Merged" layer.
Have fun with your French Country Baker's Rack! Don't forget to sharpen if you resize, and please, use a designated driver if you get too carried away!!!
Here's another decorated Baker's Rack - for this one, I left off the glass and bottle holders, and added a few hooks! This one is truly for baking!
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please do not hesitate to Email me.
