Weathering Adam's LOTR map

[Tatooine_Todd]

Hey all,
Just got my LOTR maps that Adam drew and Hydin had printed, and they are amazing. :thumbsup :thumbsup I want to weather them, but don't have an idea where to start and was hoping I could get some ideas here.
Thanks,
Todd

 

[hydin]

weathering or aging paper stuff is a blast.

i mainly grab the coffee maker, and put 10-12 bags of tea in it instead of coffee, fire it up, put the paper i am "weathering" into something waterproof, and then leave it to soak in hot black tea.

take it out after about 20~ mins, put it in the oven on warm to dry, repeat as needed.

you can also take a match and light the sides of the paper to get that old burnt crackly look, or you can even light em and drop em in random spots to create the "burnt hole" look that some people like.

if the first run doesnt help, soak it again in the cold tea for a little bit, and just alternate between soaking and drying.

the map is pretty big, so i dunno how well it will dry out in the oven, but a decent hair dryer on full and a flat table top should also help dry it out pretty well.

post up some pics ... thats the best part of weathering the crap out of stuff.
chris

 

[Gigatron]

Here's a quick tutorial I wrote when we first started talking abouth the map

http://www.therpf.com/index.php?showtopic=116807&hl=map

And here's a thread with the screen caps from Fellowship. I'll probably be adding the screencaps from two towers shortly

http://www.therpf.com/index.php?showtopic=118045&hl=map

-Fred

 

[Tatooine_Todd]

Is there any long term danger to the paper since tea contains tanic acid? Also what is the danger of the ink running with the method used in printing?

 

[hydin]

the ink shouldnt run. it was laser printed so it should be fine.

best bet is to test a small corner of the map if you are worried about anything like that.

as far as paper.... no idea of the long term effect, but i have a manuscript i did a few years back in the same way i described and it worked out pretty well, and the pages are all fine.

chris

 

[SurferGeek]

<div class='quotetop'>(monster_collector @ Nov 11 2006, 10:27 AM) [snapback]1355437[/snapback]</div>

Is there any long term danger to the paper since tea contains tanic acid? Also what is the danger of the ink running with the method used in printing?
[/b]

Years of exposure to the air will cause the paper to become brittle and the color to change due to the acid in the tea and the paper as from what I recall the paper isn't archival. You can buy treatments for the paper that will neutralize the acids as well as treatments to UV stabilize the paper.

Quick Google search:

http://www.scrapbooksupercenter.com/acnepr.html

 

[Gigatron]

Well, I finished weathering one of my maps using the method I described above.

Here are the pics:

First is the map taken with a flash

Second is no flash

While you can see some of the weathering in these pics, it is much more "dramatic" in person. I hope to build a custom frame over the next few weeks. For now, I'll temporarily hang it in it's place using blue painters tape.

Enjoy,
Fred

 

[sector 7G]

Here is the weathered map I did from the free download from Adam, I had this printed for 5 bucks the weathering took about 20 minutes with a bottle of lemon juice and a iron, I finished it off by using a charcoal pencil to add the burnt edges around the map. The back of the map is also aged in the same process.

 

[KnightAsylum]

Well I know it isn't what was on screen, but I wasn't really worried about that. It was my first weathering job. and I had fun doing it Next step is to fram it with some "olde" style frame and some good background like Burlap or old cloth to have it on top of in the frame.

 

[slightlyagitatedwookie]

I did mine yesterday and made a frame/mount for it. Ideally I wanted a nicely matted with glass frame but even with a a 50% sale at Micheal's it was going to be $265 for a decent frame. I opted to make make my own frame from some door casing trim, a piece of masonite board and some black material from an old bed sheet. Not bad for $40 in materials.

To make my map, I inserted the image into AutoCad and scaled it up to full size and plotted it on a standard inkjet plotter at work.

To weather it I used some of the ideas listed above and the other threads. I first sprayed it down with a spray bottle filled with coffee (leftovers from my morning cup.). Once it was evenly dampened, I scrunched the whole map into a softball sized ball then straightened it back up again.
Then I ripped the edges while wet to make the edges look worn.The map was then dried with a heatgun.
Next was the heavy soiling. I took a tablespoon of instant coffee and just enough water to dissolve it into a liquidy paste. Using gloves I smeared and spread the mixture until I was satisfied , then dried it again.

Not bad for a days work. This was my first time weathering paper and it was a blast.

Thanks to Adam for making this freely available. I'm proud to have some Mythbuster art on my walls.

Heath

 

[Great_Bizarro]

Weathering in photoshop
Here is a good demo of how to create a weathered parchment for overlay of a map or other items using Photoshop

 

[Kris]

I completely submerged the map into tea, it gave some nasty tears when I tried to take it out, but the inkt is still looking perfect, now just to make it dirty, weathered and what more, and make it look .. great

 

[JediHomer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kris @ Dec 11 2006, 06:34 PM) [snapback]1375777[/snapback]</div>

I completely submerged the map into tea, it gave some nasty tears when I tried to take it out, but the inkt is still looking perfect, now just to make it dirty, weathered and what more, and make it look .. great

[/b]

looking forward to my time off next week, this is one of the projects i'm going to tackle.