Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Cool Picture Frame Backing images

My Flickr picture frame project
picture frame backing
Image by James Cridland
- An old laptop, which doesn't have enough memory in it to run today's software
- A picture frame from Ikea
- Flickr

The plan is to have this picture frame showing all photographs with a certain tag: and for it to rotate through them every five minutes or so.

So far, I've stripped down the laptop, mostly to turn the screen around, to make it as flat as possible, and to strip as much prettiness from the casing to ensure the thing runs nice and cool. The frame's planned to be open at the back, so that it doesn't get too hot.

Things still to do:

1. Find some software (or bake my own) which will do a good job as a screen saver type thing under Windows 2000. After checking, none really exist: most insist on Windows XP (which this laptop doesn't have). I suspect the solution is probably a simple Flash application, but I need to work out how to get the photos from Flickr - I'd like to do it automatically, rather than manually. I suspect that I'll share a folder on this laptop, and tell it to frequently check how many files there are inside it.
2. Work out some way of keeping the laptop affixed inside. The good news is that this frame is quite nice and thick, and made of wood. Stubby screws will probably do the job.
3. Get some frame mounting card properly cut, rather than the amateur job here. And find a nice photograph to put in the other frame.
4. Put VNC Server onto the laptop, so I don't need to use the keyboard
5. For the best effect, work out how to hide the mains lead that goes into it. A cheat would be to put this on a window ledge or shelf.

I feel sure someone's already done this, so any comments would be welcome.


Take a Picture to make a Picture
picture frame backing
Image by MarkyBon


white oak picture frame
picture frame backing
Image by druid labs


Nature, framed (55/365)
picture frame backing
Image by gorbould
Our friends Sam and Sarah moved out of the city a few years back and bought an old house in the country, with nothing but trees and fields all around. This picture frame hangs from a tree near their deck. Somehow, framing the natural view like a portrait or window acts as a subtle reminder to appreciate it all.
IMG_2767-40


Mounted, Framed, and ready to hang
picture frame backing
Image by James M. Turley
First fully framed picture. I did all of this myself (well, except for printing and mounting of the picture). I cut the matt, attacheted the picture to the matt, pinned the matt to the frame, and then covered the back with "framing paper".

Yes, I know it isn't the greatest job, but I am proud of it. For it being my first attempt, it isn't all that bad. I know some things that I should have changed, but it's to late for that now. But, like I said, overall it doesn't look bad.

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