This tutorial is being written for PSP 9, but it should also work in PSP 8 and in PSP X. (If you have PSP 7, creating brushes is a little different. Use Help in PSP 7 to get instructions of how to create and save brushes in PSP 7. See the URL below for the instructions for using a corner brush in PSP 7.) The tutorial is entirely my creation. Any resemblance to any other tutorial by anyone else will simply be because we are telling how to add dingbat corners to a picture. (Thanks to Bev for her wonderful tutorial on adding corners in PSP 7, but since it's a bit different in PSP 8, 9, and X, I needed to show users of those versions how to do it.) The initial edition of this tutorial is for the members of PSPMadeEZ only.

In this tutorial you are going to create a PSP brush from a dingbat font - one that is a corner that you can use in framing a picture.

You will need to have a font with corners. If you don't have one, you may download a couple of free ones from the Digital Magic site (http://www.graphicdesignplus.com/Helen/DigitalMagic/Dingbats/Dingbats.html). The first two on the page are corner fonts. Download one or both and then unzip them, either into your Windows/Fonts folder or into a folder where you keep extra fonts.

If they are not in your Windows/Fonts folder, you need to open them in order to use them in PSP. (This site has four pages of dingbat fonts that are free to download.) After you make your corner, you may want to download some others and make some additional brushes.

In PSP open a transparent image 250 x 250. (A brush in PSP can be no larger than 500 by 500.) Select the text tool and in your color pallette select black as your background color. The foreground color doesn't matter, as you will select "Stroke width" as 0.0. Select the corners font you downloaded and set the size to 150. (I used the Corners 1 font and the capital letter "I". Select one from the font you use.) Create as "Floating."

Now click in your new image to place the corner character you've chosen. While it is still selected, select File/Export/Custom Brush. Give it a name (I called mine "cdt-ivy corner"), put yourself as the author, add the copyright date, and a description.

Your new brush will save where you have told your version of PSP to save brushes (the path to where I save PSP 9 brushes is C:\Documents and Settings\Carol\My Documents\My PSP Files\Brushes). Now your brush is ready to use.

Open an image of your choice and add a frame of your choice. You will use the brush you created to add corners.

Bev, one of our PSPMadeEZ members, has written a tutorial for adding brushes to images in PSP 7. You will find it here: http://www.screensbybev.com/usebrushes.html. If you use PSP 7, use Bev's tutorial to add a brush.

If you use PSP 8, 9, or X, select an image and use the following instructions for adding corners.

Open the image on which you wish to use your brushes. If you are using your corner brush, you may want to add a frame of your choice.

Select your paint brush tool and click on the arrow to pull down the screen with the available brushes. Select the one you created. For your foreground select the color, pattern, or gradient you want to use for your corners. Move your cursor over your image to see how much to lower the size. (I lowered mine to 100 and it fit well in the 250 x 250 image.) Click on the image to place the corner. Use your move tool to move it to the corner where it fits.

Duplicate the layer (Layers/Duplicate). Then Image/Mirror (CTRL/M). Toggle the visibility on the background layer so it is invisible. Merge the two layers (Layers/Merge Visible).

Duplicate the new merged layer and flip it (Image/Flip or CTRL/I). Again Layers/Merge Visible. Toggle the visibility on your background layer (your framed image). You now have two layers, your background layer and the merged layer, which is your four corners.

If you would like, put a drop shadow on the corners layer. I used offsets of 0 and 0, Opacity of 80, and Blur of 6. Color Black and shadow on new layer unticked. If you are using your corners on a dark background (your frame), you might try using white as the color of your drop shadow (see the iris image above).

Now you have made your own corner brush and used it on an image. Export your new image as a jpg file.

Here is another image framed and using the same corner and a black drop shadow.

If you would like, make some additional brushes and add them to an image. You might use several different brushes and create your own images.

Disclaimer:
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this material is being distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational or criticism purposes only. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or photo records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.