Curtains and Shades

But illuminating these buildings would show what you couldn't see in the daylight or in the dark, that they were actually empty, with lucite windows that generally kept you from seeing in when it was lighter outside the buildings than inside.

So I got out the last Piko kit I bought and dug out the sheet of paper that had some curtains on it. There weren't nearly enough to do my whole town. But I used them as an example as I went out on a Google images search for more curtain patterns I could use. I also wanted a Venetian blind image to use for my similarly empty switch tower.

At first, I created and uploaded many individual .jpg graphics files that readers could download and resize as needed. These are still listed below. But when I needed to do a whole town's worth at the same time, I went ahead and combined some of the more useful patterns into four .pdf files. Since I usually print these on media that costs $1 a sheet, like overhead transparency film, there's no sense "printing" a mostly blank page anyway.

What Media Should I Use?

In 2008, I printed these on paper then taped them into my buildings using electrical tape. Unfortunately, those buildings had some pressed wood component that got a little moldy, then the mold eventually spread to the paper "curtains." In 2011, I tried some craft store "vellum," which according to the manufacturer, was made of plastic, so it should hold up. Unfortunately, the "vellum" was actually a kind of treated paper, and when it got damp it did weird things, including curling up and shrinking. In 2012, I tried overhead projector material (a kind designed to work in color laser printers), and it seems to be working fine. In January, 2013, I gave some of these to friends, and the stuff seems to be working fine for them, too. Remember, whatever media you choose to use, make certain you get the kind designed to work with your printer. Media designed to work on a color laser, may not hold ink as well as media designed for an inkjet. On the other hand, material designed for an inkjet might melt down in a laser printer. So read the labels carefully.

That said, the nice thing about the paper was that you could see the curtains in the daytime as well as night, and it was opaque enough to block any peering into the lighted, but empty structures. If you can track down some white plastic "paper" that will work in your printer, that might be the best solution for you. In the meantime, I have the rest of a $40 package of overhead projector film to go through.

Legalese

• You are allowed to download it for your own use and to make signs for your friends.
• You may not alter these image except for resizing them for own use. You may not load them on any web page or resell artwork made with these graphics.
• If you wish to share this resource on a web page, please link to this page, rather than copying these images to your site, which will be an infringement of copyright, and not a very nice way of rewarding our hard work.

PDF File Versions

Three Dark Colors		Pink, Gold, and Rose
Blue, Light Blue, Green Pattern		Yellow Cafe Curtains and Venetian Blinds

Scaleable Graphics

Note: Many of the files are large. If you have a dial-up connection, some of them will take a few minutes to download--that's why we provided small versions you could review before you clicked. In addition, when you view these files on your system, they will also seem several sizes too large, although most of them are actually the right size for printing on a 300dpi printer. The reason for this discrepancy is that your monitor shows things at 72dpi, much times larger than the same file will print on a 300dpi printer.

Venetian Blinds Large
Venetian Blinds Medium
Yellow Curtains
Aunt Eller Drapes
Green Patterned Drapes
Gold Drapes
Emily's Rose Drapes
Black Forest Spruce Drapes
Light Blue Drapes
Cabbage Green Drapes
Floyd's Pink Drapes
Moody Blue Drapes