This project has actually been done for a little while now and I am just getting around to documenting the process.
Let's talk about art. Art is pretty...pretty freakin' EXPENSIVE. A large piece of wall art can easily run over $100+ and that's being modest.
Want to talk about World Market again? It's been a while. So I was walking around WM before Christmas all wide-eyed and in fantasy land (my fantasy where I can bring myself to spend $200 on a piece of WOOD with paint on it). I'm not even sure it was paint, it may have been some dumb decal. They had these wooden planks with cool maps on them. One with a map of the United States was sort of cool, but the one with the world map was even more awesome.
My groovy friend Abbey, who is always in the know about everything, sent me a pin from Pinterest, (which she often does when she sees something she knows I'll love). Of course my jaw dropped when I saw this and knew I had to do it.
I can't even take credit for this awesome idea. I wish I was THAT creative. I am not a true artist. I am just CHEAP and I like to GET THINGS DONE. I can only take credit for actually going through with the project. I see people pin awesome ideas all the time and my first thought it, "FREAKIN' COOL!" My second, more muted thought is "they'll never do that." I'm not a jerk, I'm just being realistic. :)
Let's get to it. Head to Home Depot! (Or any store that has wood!...Or, depending on the look you're going for, use scraps--take apart an old wooden palette!)
I got two 6' boards and cut them both in half.
*Randomly placed side note: I realize I overly use quotations in writing. BUT IT'S BECAUSE I'M ALWAYS SO EXCITED! Also,
I had some screws and scrap wood so I attached the 4 boards together to form one palette. Sorry, I didn't snap a photo of that. I printed a FREE (yay!) map from this neato site. There are so many different maps to choose from but I chose "World 1". From here, you can even choose the size of your map. The sizes range from 1 page to 8x8 pages! That's 64 pieces of paper that get printed, for you math-challenged, paper/ink conscious folks...
As you can see, I chose 3x3. Still a pretty good-sized piece for the wall.
I taped the map onto the board (I couldn't find my real tape so I cut up an address label!) To the geography challenged: Make sure you get your continents in order! :)
Trace that bad boy with a sturdy pen and press firmly. The wood is soft enough to leave an impression. Some of this really sucked.
The outlines in the wood.
Hi, South America!
Then I filled it in with the leftover wood stain that I had from some of the shelves and tables I've done. Use caution: it will bleed slightly. The original blogger that did this project said to condition the wood first to prevent this. Probably a good idea. Whatever.
Filling in Russia made me want to JUDO CHOP THIS BOARD IN HALF and hurl the pieces all over the room. I do not like meticulous, detailed work like this. But I knew the result was going to be worth it! Hooray for saving money!
This piece cost me $15 for materials. Oh YEAHHHHH. Take that WM!
Hung up in the living room. I love it! I could have brought the map down a little but more. That bottom board is almost unnecessary. But hey, I'm not perfect, and neither is this. :)
I'm currently working on another one of these for my mom. She has requested that the background be stained dark and the continents be painted a muted burnt orange color that is featured in her house. It's proving to be a challenge but I WILL finish it.
Think of all the possibilities for this technique! It's completely up to you! You can make it as small or as large as you'd like. You can use whatever pattern, photo, colors, or words you want (Ooooooh words! COLORS!). I think I've just found another project to do. I better go check out my scrap pile in the garage. I've got some bare walls.
Go make something!
