Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

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I'm looking for some honest opinions on this, and I can think of no more appropriate group of folks. On March 12th the Latin Honor Society (i.e. me, mostly) and Chef Clarke, our culinary teacher, are sponsoring a Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition, movie marathon. It will have Tolkien inspired meals along the way, with a raffle at the end for a 36" X 32" replica map of Middle Earth.

I got a 10 meg pdf of the map, from the RPF, whose original poster was none other than Adam Savage from Mythbusters (I know some of you are familiar with this same file). I had the map printed at Kinkos yesterday, and have been working on aging it. My normal methods are out the window due to it's size, so I'm wondering what you guys think. Too light, too dark, not worn enough...opinions are most welcome. I've put the weathered map next to another un-altered one for comparison.

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Three more pictures to follow in next message.

Cheers,

Guy
omnia quae antehoc facta sunt atque iterum factura

'All this has happened before and will happen again'[/font]

Re: Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

2
More pics...

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I should point out I'm not all about the burning of edges. While it may be neat, I don't think every map in the "ancient" world somehow survived a library fire. lol Here's my process I had to do:

1. I rolled the map and took a rasp to the ends, both directions. This took the clean look away, and I allowed a few rough hits with it to allow small tears.
2. Tea bath in a tray that turns out to be 2" too short. As such, there were spots not soaked in tea, and a few minor punch/tears happened during handling, despite my best effort.
3. Realizing lemon juice and an iron would not work, I resorted to coffee, which worked well. Spray bottle, nope. I ended up splashing healthy drops on it, wiping then heavily blotting. The more the rag got soaked with coffee and grounds, the better.
4. I did step 3 twice, and while wet I tore at the edges for wear. I don't like clean cuts, and find that distressing the edges while it's wet produces a fairly normal look to the weathering.
Last edited by Legion on Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
omnia quae antehoc facta sunt atque iterum factura

'All this has happened before and will happen again'[/font]

Re: Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

5
The change is awesome.
IMO more coffee, but this time roll it up and put it in a container with coffee grounds in the bottom so it's concentrated down low (let them settle). Do this on all four edges so the dark is heavier at the edges.
It's always an e xp eriment, but hopefully this will give it more age without the fire burnt look.
Good luck, enjoy the show. Sounds tasty...precious. ;)

Marathon watching of the EE's is the only way to really get the full impact. :thumbs_up
"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and engage in all kinds of craftsmanship"

Re: Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

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Thanks! I did a mini version of the map yesterday too, and left it in the tea bath longer. I actually just put the second map in for a soak just now, albeit with a more concentrated tea per volume. I noticed last night, when I was blotting the small map, that the edges looked better than the large one b/c they were darker. So Thrandy, you are right on the money with that comment. It's something I'm going to do with this next one.

Oh, and here's the link to the file. You have to go a few pages down to find the working link, but it's there. http://www.therpf.com/f9/huge-middle-ea ... ilz-12682/
omnia quae antehoc facta sunt atque iterum factura

'All this has happened before and will happen again'[/font]

Re: Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

7
Well, I've got a couple other maps I'm going to work on tomorrow. I rather enjoy how each comes out different. I printed up a half sized map for me. Where I'll put it...not a clue.

Anywho, I thought I'd share the flier/menu that was distributed this week for the movie marathon we're doing. Please excuse the "desert" spelling error at the bottom. I had to do both of these in a half-hour. I do think I had some good jokes in the menu. :P

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Cheers,

Guy
Last edited by Legion on Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
omnia quae antehoc facta sunt atque iterum factura

'All this has happened before and will happen again'[/font]

Re: Middle Earth map weathering--opinions sought

9
Legion, all I can say is:

1) Excellent start on the map. Makes me want to get one and do the same.

2) I can't believe you told us about the LOTR EE Movie Marathon with Meals, and didn't invite all of us as honoarary members of the Latin Society.

(And I think Jash and qualify anyway, and maybe other Latinists in the forum).

So I have to assume it was an oversight and you really mean for us to be there.

So what is that address again?...... :D

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL
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