Colorful Vintage Pages Map Wall Art

I saw a striking art piece on a restaurant wall and brooded over it for months trying to figure out if I could make it work as a project with my Art Girls. Finally I thought I had it worked out enough to give it a try in a group setting.

For this project you will need: Modge Podge, old books, sponge brushes, stretched canvas, world map clip art, scissors, acrylic paint, rubber cement. This was a two week project.

The first week, we tore out pages from old books and decoupaged them to the canvas. Add another layer of decoupage on top when done. I found that paper lays down more smoothly if you put decoupage medium on both the canvas and the back of the paper before joining them. Set aside canvas to dry.

Find a simple clip art continent map and print it out in a size that will fit your stretched canvas. Cut out around each continent. Decide if you want Antartctica or not.

We left small bits to attach the various groups of islands to the large land masses until we were ready to glue them on. Allow about 30-45 minutes for detailed cutting. We did these two steps the first week.

The second week, we cut apart any necessary islands and used rubber cement to glue the cut out map to the dry canvas. (It helps to have a print-out example of the map to aid in positioning while gluing.) Rubber cement will adhere the paper down while still allowing you to peel off the paper after it dries. Press the edges down firmly and remove any excess rubber cement that squeezes out. Dried rubber cement can be rolled off of a surface by rubbing with your finger.

We glued down the land, and I checked over each canvas for loose map edges. We let it dry for about 15-20 minutes before painting. Each girl chose a main color and then we paired a darker and a lighter color with their main color. We put all three colors on disposable paper plates, and I showed them how to dab-mix the colors together with their brush onto their painting without pre-mixing on their plates.

We tried to dab paint straight up and down, and away from the edges of the glued-on paper to avoid pushing the paint under the edges. I discouraged painting in swipes as you would on a wall. Dab, dab, dab. A little practice on another paper first can help them get the hang of the process.

You can easily see examples of the green and blue paint choices on the picture above and below.

Concentrate on painting along all edges of the glued down paper out to the edges. We did not paint down the sides of the canvas since the girls would have to take them home before completely dry. It is not necessary to paint over all the paper unless they want to.

After the paint is completely dry, carefully peel off the paper continents, revealing your decoupaged page background and the shape of the land masses. Go slowly. This is the fun part. If you want the sides more finished, a ribbon could be glued around the perimeter to finish. We liked ours without.

After it is all peeled off, a layer of Modge Podge on top will seal and finish the creation!