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“Raster” Prints and Images to a Giant Scale

I scanned a print on my little home printer/scanner and blew it up to 16 times its size with an online program.

I wanted to share some information about a computer program that you can use to really blow up images – I’m talking up to 20 meters on a side! I discovered rastering years ago as a super-cheap dorm-room decorating utility. Scan in an image, a vacation snapshot, for example, and you can turn it into a giant poster. The BIG image will print out from a standard printer and you assemble the sheets into one large image.

The name comes from the term raster graphics. Wikipedia explains raster graphics and how they work better than I can, but in essence the program looks at an image as a grid of dots. When you ask it to expand an image, the program extrapolates the placement of more dots.

If you Google “raster” you will get a slew of responses – the one that I use is called the Rasterbator at Homokaasu.org. It’s free and you can use it online or download a copy of the program to your computer. They have a gallery of neat images that users have rastered and used to decorate.

For sewing and crafting I’ve found that the Rasterbator is a neat way to replicate prints at a different scale. For example, the patterned chiffon I scanned for the demonstration photo – I plan to make that into a skirt. I also knit, so I rastered the print to a larger size. I can isolate a single bloom from the print and make an embroidery or intarsia motif for the back of a little white cardigan.

For a home decor project, scan a motif – from an pillow or curtains for example – and raster it into a giant counted cross-stitch pattern for a duvet cover, or stitching or piecing lines for a quilt.

If you have artistic kids,…

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  1. sewsmooth | | #1

    How do you print to cloth? I've looked for years for a wide carriage printer.

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