How to make a cardboard stand up of someone!

Step 6 Trimming and finishing

I originally trimmed the excess white photo paper to about 2 inches from the outline of my brothers photo. After I mounted it I wanted to trim it further.

I found that having a white "outline" around the whole image acted as a highlight. It also added a professional look to it. However I had realized this after a few minutes and didn't have the white outline completely around my brother.

I used a Dremel tool and figured out quickly that the "routing" bit gave a better cut at a certain depth. I made a ghetto routing attachment using pen and tape but my Dremel originally came with a nice routing attachment.

http://www.skykingrcproducts.com/accessories/perecman/router-base-bits.jpg

I basically used this set up and cut around the image using about a quarter of an inch white border all the way around. This was with the photo glued to the foamcore. The thicker areas of foamcore that act as the back support were a little tricky to cut. They took more effort and more Dremel power. The thicker areas were more prone to "kick back" or "kick in" as the Dremel tool sometimes wanted to drift into your image! If you turn you Dremel up higher this reducded this some but use strong steady hands to get a better true cut around your image.