How to make a zigzag border with a shadow in photoshop

Question

I would like to know how to achieve this zigzag effect (including the shadow) in Photoshop CS6:

Answer 1

1. Pick a sans-serif font
2. Type a few letter "V"s
3. On the character palette make the horizontal scale larger and the kerning smaller until it gets a nice wide "V" that touches
4. Layer Style > Drop Shadow

For step 4 depending on the exact effect you want you're going to need to do some other things probably like rasterize the layer and append a rectangle on to the top of it so when you do the drop shadow it only shows on the bottom. You might also then want to add a layer under it and fine touch it a little with the airbrush because as you see the shadow is a bit darker in the middle then on the edges. A very large soft airbrush right in the middle on a layer underneath should get that effect added in for you.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

There is no quick and easy method in Photoshop. THe pen tool and drawing it manually is probably the easiest way.

If you have access to a vector app such as Illustrator, you could simply draw a path then use Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag and then copy the result to Photoshop.