A few weeks ago, I wanted a chalkboard. So I went to various office stores, to craft stores, to Target, and NOBODY had just a basic, decently sized chalkboard I could use as a prop for some photos. Oh, I could get them online from any of those stores, but they only carried white boards in the stores.
But I'd made these goldfish crackers, and I had this idea of the photo I wanted to take that very day, and I didn't want to order online and wait for delivery. My vision needed to happen that very day. Before I forgot. Before I lost interest. Before the cute goldfish crackers all got eaten.
My last stop on my quest was Walmart. Surely they'd have a basic chalkboard, I thought, with all the stuff for college-bound kids in stock right now. No such luck. In desperation, I picked up a piece of UCreate brand Premium Poster Board for $0.97. For less than a dollar, I was willing to give it a shot.
Now, I've used regular posterboard as a makeshift chalk board before. And it was...ok...for a single use. The premium poster board felt different. Thicker. More sturdy. And with a more slick, chalkboard-like finish. So I tried it.
And oh my goodness, it worked brilliantly! I started by rubbing the flat side of a piece of chalk all over the poster board, and erasing the marks with a dry paper towel, exactly how you'd season a brand new chalk board. And then I drew.
And I wrote.
Grease can make spots on the black poster board, but it actually cleans up and the chalk wipes away really well. There's a bit of shadowing, but I'd get that with a regular chalkboard, too. That's part of the texture and the charm.
Overall, I'm extremely happy with my less-than-one-dollar photo prop. It's probably the most versatile and least expensive tool for photography I've ever bought!