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Mrs. Charlotte Winburn, a La Junta, Colorado, homemaker, often has sought to do so.

Because she feels that most mothers are just that sentimental about their families, she has fashioned a pleasure-giving and profitable hobby—photographic cutouts—that memorializes life's milestones. A three-in-one craft employing photography, painting, and woodworking, its finished product is essentially a wooden-back, oil colored figure mounted on a stand. Especially suitable as a memento or gift, it graces the mantelpiece or desk in a memory-nudging, enduring likeness that is unbreakable, washable and dust free. It is considerate of any purse; at the same time, offers a wide profit margin and an artistic outlet for the hobbyist who can be assured of quickly acquiring skill by emulating Mrs. Winburn.

THE SEED for this little exploited craft was sown in Mrs. Winburn's imaginative mind less than three years ago, following an adult course in photography at the La Junta junior college. Among the fruits of her lens of which she was particularly proud was a picture of her teenage son, Gene, regal in high school band uniform, his trumpet held high.

"The only thing not satisfying about the picture was its flatness," Mrs. Winburn says. "Whenever I thought of Gene playing his trumpet, I thought of height—of his standing straight and tall."

What if Gene were taken from the background and made to stand as erect and commanding as I envision him? the mother wondered.

She began experimenting with cutouts until she has developed the technique into an easy-to-master craft that brings her more orders than her wifely duties permit her to accept.

TO MAKE successful cutouts, the following materials should be readily accessible:

Photo oil coloring set
Presdwood or plywood
Pine lumber
Sandpaper
Camera equipment (optional)
Electric saw
Rubber cement
Absorbent cotton
Toothpicks
Paint

A photograph is, of course, the first step in making a cutout, whether you take the picture yourself or use an old family favorite. Added profit is yours if, like Mrs. Winburn, you do the picture-taking and processing. The important thing is that the picture be a sharp enlargement, printed in a dull finish, and in black and white. (A glossy print cannot be colored.) The best general size, Charlotte Winburn finds, is fourteen inches, top to bottom. In this fourteen-inch high model, the width will vary from four to ten inches.

Mrs. Winburn uses a four-by-five Crown Graphic camera to take most of her cutout subjects, posed or candid. She makes the unglossed prints on mat paper in her spare-room "laboratory," now fully equipped by virtue of her profits.

Mrs. Winburn begins the pleasant task by pasting the enlarged photo to a convenient oval of Presdwood from a supply of large sheets laid in from any lumber dealer. Presdwood cuts with ease and, because of its thinness, isn't so noticeable as a backboard. Plywood may also be used, but the craftswoman finds it is thicker and more apt to divide in the course of time.

Rubber cement is recommended by Mrs. Winburn for pasting the picture to whichever wood used. She stresses the necessity of pressing, outward, all edges with a clean cloth and to make certain there are no lumps under the picture. Several hours are required for the cement to dry thoroughly.

The actual cutting out of the wood-mounted likeness is the next step. "This is the part I enjoy most," Mrs. Winburn says. "As the pieces fall away, the figure seems to come to life."

She warns: "You can't go at it like a cabinet, but must be slow and painstaking, especially around the profile. It helps if you are of an artistic temperament."

Any electric jig saw will do the job provided a medium-fine blade is used so the picture will not be made ragged in the cutting. Mrs. Winburn's sons delight in helping her to operate her saw.

IT USUALLY takes the Winburns one-half hour to cut out the picture, depending upon its intricacy. All background, except where the figure would be weakened, is cut away. This accentuates the model and vivifies it. Base background is sometimes desirable if appropriate, as water, grass, or earth.

It is well to remember that the base, for later inserting in a grooved stand, must be wide enough to make proper balance. Mrs. Winburn plans the depth and width of the base according to the width and height of the cutout. She cuts it one-half to one inch wider than the lower part of the photograph. The depth varies from one to one and one-half inches, depending upon whether or not the height of the cutout needs more or less support. She shapes the base in a rolling pattern at the top, contributing to a more graceful appearance than if it were squared off.

Precision is important to a realistic job. This includes the cutting out of inside areas (between legs, under arms). To perform this detail work, punch a hole in the inside area, disconnect the saw blade, and insert through the hole; then re-connect the blade and saw with care, disconnecting the blade again when finished.

Mrs. Winburn learned intricacy by doing many models of La Junta's Koshare Indian Dancers, senior Scouts nationally famous for their interpretive dancing and fancy dress. Indian ceremonial regalia is as delicate as fringe and fern. Careful practice on similar costuming will develop surprising jig saw skill for you.

IF THE cutout is to be colored, it is the next and fourth step. However, uncolored cutouts, mounted, are very suitable, more effective than ordinary photographs, should you not want to tackle the coloring process. In some instances, as in the case of a graduation picture, black and white is preferred. Mrs. Winburn charges $1 more for a colored cutout.

Most cutouts will be greatly enhanced by oil colors.

"But I'm no artist," you might say. "How do I color a photo to look professional?"

As Mrs. Winburn points out, any good photo coloring set includes detailed instructions in oil coloring; this was the way she learned. Owing to a liquid called an "extender" with which you can alter the colors until the desired effect is attained, coloring is simplified for the beginner.

Mrs. Winburn uses a photo oil coloring set that cost her $7.50. A smaller set may be used at first. The bigger sets include colors not necessary for the beginner.

To mix your colors, cover a square of cardboard with waxed paper so they won't soak in. Have the extender (included in set) ready to dilute colors; a tube of brown and red handy for darkening. Starting with the flesh, a basic color in itself, apply with absorbent cotton. Use lots and lots of cotton to smooth the colors for the desired tone. Put a small wad on a toothpick for fine work and to remove unwanted coloring with the extender. Build up from the flesh and blend the colors lightly, is Mrs. Winburn's advice.

Special tubes of color come with larger oil sets. One, raw sienna, is used for blond hair; verona brown, for brunette. There are other tubes for cheeks and lipstick.

It takes the deft fingers of Charlotte Winburn one-half to three-quarters of an hour for each color. She lets each color set to avoid smearing.

When the cutout is completely colored and set, a glossy lacquer (can comes with set) is applied over the entire surface. It leaves the surface smooth. Dust, therefore, will not collect, and the inevitable fingerprints, bound to result from handling through the years, can be quickly wiped off with a damp cloth.

THE SIZE, shape and color of the stand is suggested by the cutout itself. Pine is the wood Mrs. Winburn prefers to use. She finds it economical to buy six- to eight-foot lengths (cost, about $4.75 per length) and groove each length with an electric saw. However, most lumber companies will groove the lumber for you. An average cutout fourteen inches high takes a groove of one-quarter inch in width and 1¾ inches deep.

Cut to stand-length, the block is sanded with ordinary sandpaper. A generous amount of wood glue is poured into the groove and, when partially dry, the base of the cutout is slid into position. All that remains is to paint the stand, being careful not to get paint on the cutout.

Perhaps it seems that with the number of steps involved in such handicraft the cost of time, labor and material would be prohibitive. Consider that it takes Mrs. Winburn the better part of two days to complete one cutout. But several are "under construction," in various stages, at any time. Once the photograph is ready, she can turn out six cutouts per day at a leisurely pace that provides her with "a lot of fun." Mrs. Winburn finds it quite profitable to sell them for only $7.50 apiece, with a small discount for orders of two or more of the same subject.

In the colorful menagerie of cutouts that she has created are a football player on the line, a man in Western dress parading his palomino, a flag-bearer, and a little girl trudging off with book and supplies for her first day of school.

There is no limitation to the subject matter. Mrs. Winburn, for example, is currently devising a cutout of her mother, knitting needles in hand and rocking in her favorite chair. This cutout will actually rock! Instead of the fixed stand, she will use little rockers.

MARKETING THIS heart-appealing craft work is as easy as interesting a child in a lollipop: Simply display it to arouse interest. That is the way Mrs. Winburn does it. Soon after she made her first score of cutouts in 1953, she exhibited them in a downtown furniture store window. (Merchants welcome this kind of attention getter.) Setting up a two-level shelf, she affixed a gaudy ribbon to each cutout and stretched each one to a Christmas card in the foreground. "People were in front of the window at almost any time during the display," she marvelled. Lots of orders resulted. A later display was held at the Koshare Indian Kiva where thousands flock annually to see the Scouts' $50,000 free art gallery and museum of Southwestern lore. Here she demonstrated her most artistic wares: Many of the performing boy dancers in elaborate Indian costumes, all beadwork and feathers duplicated by her patient color and saw work.