Map art

Another craft post here!

This time a birthday present for my wonderful dad ( love you dad!)

Inspiration for this actually came from another gift idea which popped into my head (which is still a work in progress) I've always wanted to have a go at a couple of these idea one of which is scrabble word art and the second is map art.

I had no luck in securing some spare scrabble letters so opted for an attempt at map art and I'm glad I did!

This is definitely one of my favourite pieces.

Firstly I needed to get hold of the right maps covering the correct locations for my art. I wanted to include places such as where my dad grew up, where he got married and where he bought his first house. 

I nipped down the local charity shop to my work place which happens to be an Oxfam bookshop and had a good rummage through the map sections. Here I found for £1.99 an OS map dating back to the 1970s for two of the locations I was searching for. These were covered in the Winchester & Basingstoke areas.

The bookshop told me that local maps are always few and far between as they're the first to sell, so due to time constraints I then turned to ebay to secure the second map I needed.

This time I went for a map of the solent mounted on cloth dating back to the 1960's. The map arrived in the post in a couple of days. Even on ebay I was surprised to see so few maps available, so if you're intending to get into map art I suggest you secure maps of your interest first before planning your projects.

I had a spare white box frame from previous craft ventures which I used to complete this piece. You can pick these up from your local hobby store, my favourite is The Range.

A lot of map art I've seen on Pinterest is heart shaped, butterfly's or stars and they all look great! But being a present for my dad I wanted something a little more personal.

So the word 'Dad' it had to be!

I was a bit anxious about using a word as my template as it was a little bit more challenging then a solid shape outline. The 'A' proved the hardest to cut out especially that pesky little hole in the centre of the letter.

I found A font I liked on the computer and typed the word 'DAD' into a word document then printed it off. This formed my letters template.

I then placed the letters over the area of the map I needed and cut around the template. For this I used a small pair of scissors for precision although I think a sharp Stanley knife may also do the trick particularly for the inside of the lettering.

I was a little concerned that the map might rip whilst cutting or that the hand cut letters might come out looking a little scruffy but was pleasantly surprised with how well the lettering came out.

I then printed a back template for my box frame saying 'worlds best xxx' and space for the DAD lettering to be inserted in between.

The map lettering was then attached with a double back sticky foam to give its 3D effect.

So here it is...

It was a real hit and dad loved it! :) he thought it was very unique!

If you'd like to make your own map art here's what you'll need:

-Maps

-A box frame

-Double sided sticky foam

-Some sharp small scissors or a Stanley knife

- A shape template (heart, star or perhaps a word) 

Happy crafting!

***Update***

I'd just like to add in a quick picture of another of my map art projects. This time a 30th birthday present for a friend featuring  heart shaped maps,  I also incorporated something a little bit different which was to include the location of their seats at our local football club, they're avid Saints fans.

It's nice to see how the different map shapes give a completely unique new look, other templates which work nicely are butterflies or stars :)