Maps

[DaveW]

I'm making some maps for my campaign. My characters have been wondering freely through the land, without any greater geography. After looking hard for a map and location that fits into the events so far in the campaign, I have settled for a slight twist on the village of Eveningstar, Cormyr. The players are now embroiled in some political intrigue, so maps and things will become more important.

I have found a great big and beautiful map at this link here. There were a lot of Faerun maps, but this one is the only one I've found that was obviously not made by a computer. It's beautiful, so I'm printing that on A3 (possibly A2 if I'm sneaky enough). I also have this map of Cormyr; Unfortunately, while easy to read it's not as authentic as the first map. Finally, I have the map of Eveningstar, straight from the wiki, which looks authentic as well.

Now, my plan is to print these out by using the printers after hours (shh!) and then age the paper so they look more authentic. Obviously, I can't fit A2 in my oven. A3 at a pinch if I fold the corners. But, there are other questions, such as how to do this, what will give the best effect, etc.

Now, what I've gathered so far is that I should crumple and uncrumple the paper, then make a cup of coffee at about 5x normal strength. I should then add some red wine to the coffee. Spread out my map. Take a brush, then start spreading the coffee/wine mixture over the map. Finally, put the map into the oven to dry it.

I'm looking for feedback on this process. I'm sure someone here will have done this before. Will this work on inkjet paper? I know heaver paper is best, but what is the lightest paper I should do this with? Has anyone tried this on glossy paper (the A2 printer only prints on glossy paper)? Any hints/tips/tricks for making maps look dated and old? Should I be worried about heavily smudging the ink?

Thanks in advance,

-Dave

 

[DaveW]

Very disappointing that with 83 views, no-one thought to contribute to this thread. Is it because I'm new to this community?

Well, I made the maps with coffee and red wine as described above. When baking them they came out dry and brittle, but we managed to fix this by getting a thin dishtowel and ironing them with the iron set to high steam.

One interesting side-effect of the iron was that the toner (printed them on a laser printer) became glossy in areas where it was concentrated, which made the text look glossy and the background matte. This has made the maps much more authentic feeling, so I'd recommend it.

We modified some of the maps with two types of pen; a water-soluble colour pencil, which looked great when it went on, and a non-permanent black marker. We were worried about the pencil running, but it didn't; however, the non-permanent pen did. We solved the problem by outlining the words written with the marker with a silver pen, which doesn't help readability but looked pretty good.

I made 5 maps in this way. For presentation, I rolled the maps and tied them with some red and brown cord. My fiance then wrote the names of the maps on the sides, along with some dates. The result looks fantastic.

If I had advice to give; don't turn the oven to 200, 100 aught to do it. Try not to leave it in the oven for too long. Ironing works a charm to turn it back into paper again. After it's been ironed, if you roll it, it will hold the new shape. Be very careful if you want to glue two pieces of paper together, as they may end up different sizes after the process.

Hope this helps someone.

-Dave

 

[Raven Crowking]

Very disappointing that with 83 views, no-one thought to contribute to this thread. Is it because I'm new to this community?

Nah, that's normal.

I'll bet over 80 of those views saw the word "Maps" and were hoping for free ones.

And then, probably, like me, they've never dried maps in their ovens, and therefore couldn't answer you question intelligently.

Welcome to the community, by the way.


RC

 

[jonesy]

You might have gotten more hits at the Art Gallery, Cartography & Miniatures Painting section. I certainly missed this entirely.

It sounds interesting. I'd never heard of the method before.

 

[falcarrion]

google "aging paper". you should a few ways of doing it.

 

[Cor_Malek]

It's the problem with General area - it's easy for a topic to be lost to others + it has lower chance of attracting attention of those who know given subject.

Anyway, the only advice I could've given - you figured out yourself (the iron).
Ah, there's one more - if you want to add some burns to it, I recommend mosquito repellent incense coils like [this] or [this]. It's hot enough to make it scorch a bit, but not enough to light up, so it's very easy to control. It's more time consuming than candle + brush with water, but effects are IMO a lot better (and it's more precise). And it repels mosquitoes!

Even more than EnWorld's art and cartography subforum, I'd reccomend to you the Cartographers Guild.

And thanks for posting a follow-up on the project despite the fact that you didn't get any advice in time...

Cheers!

[edit] since you're into making cool maps, check out this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Inkjet-Printing-on-Fabric/

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey Dave, great questions! I've done some of this before, and IRL I work in the architectural/design field, so this is familiar ground for me.

Now, my plan is to print these out by using the printers after hours (shh!) and then age the paper so they look more authentic. Obviously, I can't fit A2 in my oven. A3 at a pinch if I fold the corners. But, there are other questions, such as how to do this, what will give the best effect, etc.

At first glance with those maps, in particular that large Faerun one, I'd find someone with a plotter/wide-format printer and be prepared to cough up some dough. With a plotter you're free (mostly) to come up with your own size. Anyone doing CAD-based design should have access to one, but you could always try your local university's architecture/drafting school.

Alternatively I think there was someone on ENWorld who does printing for gamers on this site, but I can't remember his name...

Now, what I've gathered so far is that I should crumple and uncrumple the paper, then make a cup of coffee at about 5x normal strength. I should then add some red wine to the coffee. Spread out my map. Take a brush, then start spreading the coffee/wine mixture over the map. Finally, put the map into the oven to dry it.

Yes, that technique works well, but I would suggest a few things. Try coffee grounds with just a dash of wine/grape juice/diluted orange ink and a dry bristle brush - you'll get a nice grainy effect. You will probably need to experiment to get this right, so be conservative and work in stages. I also came up with an interesting look by rubbing some rusted metal along the edges of the paper.

I'm looking for feedback on this process. I'm sure someone here will have done this before. Will this work on inkjet paper? I know heaver paper is best, but what is the lightest paper I should do this with? Has anyone tried this on glossy paper (the A2 printer only prints on glossy paper)?
Hmm, glossy paper I would not recommend.

Ideally you'd print directly onto watercolor paper. Medium inkjet watercolor paper is usually rated at 250 gsm. Of course, you'd need a printer capable of handling that, and would want to do a dry run first. For your purposes I'd go with a rough or cold-pressed watercolor paper, since those will have texture while the hot-pressed will be too smooth.

I have no idea if you can find it, but sometimes art shops have paper with acid (most papers today are acid-free); the acid helps yellow the paper with age. I don't know if you can even use acid watercolor paper with a printer, but it's something I've wanted to try!

Here's an ok guide I found on a quick search, it's about printing photos on watercolor paper. Not great, but it'll do: How to Print Photos on Watercolor Paper | eHow.com

After printing, you'll want to stretch the paper before treating it with coffee/wine. It's general practice to stretch light-weight watercolor paper so it doesn't warp. Here's a good walkthrough: How to Stretch Watercolor Paper Again, test this out first to see how much soaking the paper in water affects the printed image.

Any hints/tips/tricks for making maps look dated and old?

Great suggestions so far!

Should I be worried about heavily smudging the ink?

Yes, but that's more likely to happen from natural body oils than from aging the map (unless you're grinding it with the brush). Since you're putting a lot of work into it I would investigate lamination options. And invest in a postage/storage tube.

Your players will drool (hence the lamination)

 

[DaveW]

You might have gotten more hits at the Art Gallery, Cartography & Miniatures Painting section. I certainly missed this entirely.

Hmm, I didn't see that forum/subforum. This site is very slow for me for some reason, so I'm mainly using the quick-jump menu to navigate. My bad?

google "aging paper". you should a few ways of doing it.

I'm going to come off as an ass now, but I already have-which should be evident from my description in the first post. I was mainly looking for hints and tips from experienced people regarding the aging of maps; especially with respect to paper types and inks.

Anyway, the only advice I could've given - you figured out yourself (the iron).
Ah, there's one more - if you want to add some burns to it, I recommend mosquito repellent incense coils like [this] or [this]. It's hot enough to make it scorch a bit, but not enough to light up, so it's very easy to control. It's more time consuming than candle + brush with water, but effects are IMO a lot better (and it's more precise). And it repels mosquitoes!

That's an interesting tip, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you! The whole process was pretty straightforward, so I think I'll be doing this again. One thing we did to add character was to drip coffee in splotches over the paper before we put it in the oven; in those places, brown spots came through which gave it a really nice effect.

At first glance with those maps, in particular that large Faerun one, I'd find someone with a plotter/wide-format printer and be prepared to cough up some dough. With a plotter you're free (mostly) to come up with your own size. Anyone doing CAD-based design should have access to one, but you could always try your local university's architecture/drafting school.

I have access to a poster printer, but it only prints on glossy paper. Aging the glossy paper didn't work; the ink simply ran when it got wet. I wouldn't recommend anyone tries this, as the result was a gloopy mess that was difficult to dispose of. I am aware that a plotter takes different types of paper, but I doubt I'll be able to find one. What I did was print it on A3 paper, age the sheets, then glue them together with a gluestick. The result wasn't great, but I think it would be sound if I had glued the sheets before I tried the aging process.

Hmm, glossy paper I would not recommend.

Ah, I missed that.

Ideally you'd print directly onto watercolor paper.

That's an interesting idea, I hadn't thought of watercolour paper. Acid paper is an interesting idea too. I'd have loved to make the paper look yellow, but I wasn't sure how to do that exactly, and I doubt I'll have been able to give it that brittle, fragile texture that yellow paper has.

Since you're putting a lot of work into it I would investigate lamination options. And invest in a postage/storage tube.

I'd rather not laminate it-the texture of the paper is one of the important things about having paper props. I have a few cardboard postage tubes, but I'm storing the maps by rolling them and tying them with some cord I bought; they really look the part. I'll try and post some pictures later.

Thank you to everyone who responded for your insights.

-Dave

EDIT: Also, the link to the fabric printing guide is really cool. Anyone interested in this should check out that link in particular. Thanks!

 

[ozreth]

Heya! I am currently going through this learning process as well and would love to see pics of your finished product if ya dont mind : )