How it started:
I went looking for a decent map to get my wife for the holidays...as she's a HUGE Johnny Depp fan. Especially Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't really find ANY for sale that I thought were very good, but I did find a few good builds here on the RPF! Then that got me thinking I should just make my own.
However, I had a few limitations right out of the gate...
If I was going to make my own, that meant I didn't want to still end up spending a fortune on materials, etc. And where was this going to go once I was done with it (we have quite a few things at home already...not a lot of space)?
So this led to a few parameters:
I decided the scale would be no more than 13" for the largest dimension, both because I already have a printer that maxes out at that and so that it could be hung on a wall at home without too much disruption. This also ended up very helpful for image size v. resolution in the end, anyhow.
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Here are my materials:
First, the IMAGE.
I sourced all the images I could from this very helpful thread: http://www.therpf.com/f9/pirates-caribbean-mao-kun-map-117484/
And whatever I could find on google.
PRINTING substrate.
I wanted this too look as authentic as I could make it. It was a bit of a toss-up between trying some type of parchment to get the aged effect v. canvas that would still give it a nice feel, and really be more flexible. I went with Canvas. A 13" x 20' roll of Epson brand.
BACKER.
For this, I actually ordered a 17" x 24" bamboo placemat from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052JOJUG/ref=oh_o00_s00_i02_details
I went looking for a decent map to get my wife for the holidays...as she's a HUGE Johnny Depp fan. Especially Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't really find ANY for sale that I thought were very good, but I did find a few good builds here on the RPF! Then that got me thinking I should just make my own.
However, I had a few limitations right out of the gate...
If I was going to make my own, that meant I didn't want to still end up spending a fortune on materials, etc. And where was this going to go once I was done with it (we have quite a few things at home already...not a lot of space)?
So this led to a few parameters:
I decided the scale would be no more than 13" for the largest dimension, both because I already have a printer that maxes out at that and so that it could be hung on a wall at home without too much disruption. This also ended up very helpful for image size v. resolution in the end, anyhow.
------------------------------------
Here are my materials:
First, the IMAGE.
I sourced all the images I could from this very helpful thread: http://www.therpf.com/f9/pirates-caribbean-mao-kun-map-117484/
And whatever I could find on google.
PRINTING substrate.
I wanted this too look as authentic as I could make it. It was a bit of a toss-up between trying some type of parchment to get the aged effect v. canvas that would still give it a nice feel, and really be more flexible. I went with Canvas. A 13" x 20' roll of Epson brand.
BACKER.
For this, I actually ordered a 17" x 24" bamboo placemat from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052JOJUG/ref=oh_o00_s00_i02_details