In the days of long ago, before photography was invented, our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers used to have portraits of themselves taken sideways. They were what were known as silhouette portraits, and they were not taken with a camera, but were cut out of thin black paper, and stuck upon a white card. The word silhouette comes from the name of Monsieur Etienne de Silhouette, a French Minister of Finance in 1759, who was thought to be very grasping, and it was given to this kind of portrait because it consists of the mere outline, and is quite mean, or meager, in detail.

Fasten a sheet of paper on a flat wall, put the sitter near it, with a good light of some kind on a table, placed in such a way as to throw a shadow of our friend upon the paper.

Until a few years ago men might often have been seen in the streets of Boston and other big cities, who for a penny, would cut out a silhouette portrait of anyone who cared to stand before them for a few minutes. These portraits were about the size of a carte-de-visite photograph, and were often very good likenesses. Of course, these portraits were more or less accurate as side views of the face, according to the skill of the man who cut them out. If he had much artistic ability they were good likenesses; if not, they were sometimes very poor. But in still earlier days, when silhouette portraits were fashionable and popular, they used to be done in a more scientific way. The person whose portrait was to be taken sat sideways before a screen, with a light on a table on the other side of him, and in this way a clear shadow was thrown upon the screen, which gave a perfect portrait if the light and sitter were arranged properly.

Then the outline would be traced upon the screen, and from this it was, by mechanical means, transferred, on a small scale, to a sheet of special black paper, cut out, and mounted on card. Many of these old silhouette portraits have come down to us. There is a famous one of Edward Gibbon, the historian, which gives not only his face, but his whole figure, and he considered it the best of all the portraits of himself that had ever been drawn. There is also a famous silhouette portrait of Robert Burns, the Scottish poet.

Now, any clever boy or girl can, with a little care, make silhouette portraits of his or her friends. It is not necessary to have an elaborate screen such as the old silhouette portrait makers used; all we need do is to fasten a sheet of paper on a flat wall, put the sitter near it, with a good light of some kind on a table, placed in such a way as to throw a shadow of our friend upon the paper. Then, with a pencil, we draw carefully round the outline of the shadow, and afterwards cut it out. We may use paper that is black on one side and white on the other, drawing the outline of the face on the white side, and sticking the portrait down with the black side up. Or we may draw the shadow-portrait on white paper, cut it out, and then, using it as a pattern, make a copy in black paper. The picture at right shows how a person should sit to have his portrait taken in silhouette, and below are some specimen silhouette portraits. The sitter should, of course, sit perfectly still while the outline of the shadow is being drawn, and if necessary the head may be supported in some way so that the shadow may remain perfectly still.

source: Things to Make and Things to Do, loose page, date unknown

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