How-To Make a Pirate Map 1

This is a small little project i decided on making for a project in one of my fantastic design classes. Steps are pretty simple so here it goes!  Due to the limited time i had for this project i went with creating a pretty simple map in photoshop...

 I printed this guy out in a plain 8.5 x 11 sheet...Mixed a dye using a mixture of tea bags, coffee and a couple drops of acrylics. As i mixed i tested the dye on scrap pieces of plain white paper...

Once i mixed the desired dye i began to add it to the map with a sponge. I like to do this procedure on a frame along with its glass. the glass piece would keep the paper flat once it dries and it make for an easy clean-up. And the frame (used with the front facing down) creates channels at the edges that catches the excess dye applied. Perfect for the job!!

 After making sure that the paper thoroughly absorbs the dye you can go ahead and clean up the excess dye.

These air bubbles are trapped in the process so you can run your fingers across the paper to get rid of them. bottom image is a view from below...

Let the paper dry up a bit and whilst still damp, use a needle tool to start tearing at the edges of the paper. 

 Next, using a paint brush i added some more of the same dye mixture to the torn edges in order to make them slightly darker than the rest of the paper. Added some more random drops of the same dye to the actual body of the map along with some darker dye to add variations in hue... as seen below...

Leave on glass until it is almost dry and then start to peel off carefully...since it is still a bit damp, tears might occur. 

Et voila! you have a nearly finished pirate map! 

Next blog post you'll get to see the finished piece of this guy. 

Thank you for reading! 

Pirate Map: Final