Over the years, we’ve worked with more than 10,000 baby handprints and footprints, and have personally taken more than 1,000 prints ourselves at our pop-ups and appointments.
So it’s safe to say we’ve seen just about every kind of baby print there is!
And one of the questions we’re asked most often is whether a print is “good enough” to use.
In our 8 years of creating handprint and footprint keepsakes, we have honestly never met a print that we can’t use! James is absolutely amazing at neatening and restoring prints.
We’ve worked with smudged prints, painty prints, ink prints, photographs of prints, incomplete prints, faint prints, wriggly toes, missing toes, old hospital footprints and prints that parents thought were completely unusable.
Can you use a smudged or partial baby footprint?
Here’s a lovely example.
River’s Mum took her little one’s footprints at home and, as you can see, darling River had a lovely wriggle, resulting in smudges and partial prints.
But that was no problem at all. There was still plenty there for James to work with. He was able to carefully restore and neaten the footprint while keeping the genuine little details that made it River’s.
And this was the finished result. 🤍
Keeping all those little details that make their print theirs
If you have multiple partial prints, please do keep them all! Please don’t worry one bit if you think they don’t look the best — I promise you, they are often much better than you think.
And don’t worry about choosing the “best” one before sending them to us. We’re always happy to take a look and work out which print, or combination of prints, will give the loveliest and most true-to-life result.
James can gently combine details from multiple prints to make one seamless footprint, so that the complete footprint is still entirely theirs. James has spent years honing this craft and gives each footprint the time it deserves.
We’ve also found over the years that every parent is different. Some love for us to carefully neaten and restore their prints, while others would rather we keep every little smudge and imperfection exactly as it is. We are so happy to do whichever you prefer.
It is incredibly important to us that you are 100% happy with your artwork, which is why we send you a proof before creating your finished piece and are happy to make as many changes as needed until we have everything just as you would like it.
What if my baby’s footprint was taken years ago?
Absolutely! Some of the most precious prints we work with are ones that have been tucked away safely in a baby book or memory box for years.
They might be hospital footprints taken when your little one was first born, an old paint or ink print, or even a photograph of a footprint that you no longer have the original of.
When a footprint is especially precious
It has been and continues to be our true honour to be trusted with the most precious hand and footprints of angel babies, and to turn these into special baby memorial keepsakes.
Please know that you never have to part with the original prints. All we need is a photograph or scan, which you can send to us whenever you are ready. There is absolutely no rush.
Our graphic designer and hand and footprint artist, James, will personally work with your prints to create your proof. We can keep the prints exactly as they are or, if you would prefer, we can gently neaten any smudges or double impressions for you.
James is very happy to create as many proofs as needed until the layout and design feel just right for you xxx
If you’re ever unsure about a print you have, you’re always very welcome to send us a photograph and we’ll happily take a look for you and chat things through.
And if you’re yet to take your baby’s prints, you can read our How to Take a Beautiful Baby Handprint at Home: 10 Tips From Artists Who Have Taken Over 1,000 Prints guide, where we’ve shared everything we’ve learnt from taking more than 1,000 little prints ourselves.
Love,
Mimi & James xx