Create variable vintage borders with Reprofile

In this quick tip we are going to look at creating a variable height vintage border for our artwork using the Reform and Reprofile tools, both part of the Reform Plugin. The Vintage Profile Pack is available for subscribers to download inside their Astute Manager.

To make the border:

• Draw out an ellipse around your artwork.

• Click inside the Reform panel to activate the tool and drag out one offset marker on the west side of your ellipse.

• Fine tune the height of the offset using the value box (we’re setting it to 40px).

• To duplicate this sculpted shape rather than overwrite the original, hold down the Alt (mac) / Option (Windows) key when clicking the Apply button. You should now have two ellipse shaped paths.

• With the inner most path still selected, go into the Reprofile panel and click to activate the tool.

• Select Vintage from the Category dropdown (we’re using Vintage Number 7).

• Drag out on the west point again.

• We always recommend you click the Use Defaults button when using a downloaded profile. They have their height, repeat and corner types already defined, though you can always overwrite these if you want by double-clicking the profile in the panel to enter the Profile Attributes Window.

• If you reduce the repeat value by half, it will double the amount of profiles it fits along the path.

• When you’re happy with your preview, hold down Alt (mac) / Option (Windows) when clicking Apply. This will duplicate this profile rather than overwriting the original.

• The output is a compound path, so to quickly swap the fill and stroke (Shift+X), group the objects and move them to the back of your artwork.