IT'S A SMALL WORLD

I was lucky enough to be a volunteer at this year’s InsideOut Dorset Festival where one of the main exhibits was the spectacular ‘Gaia’ by Luke Jerram.

'Gaia' at Moors Valley - InsideOut Dorset Festival

Gaia – a huge visual representation of planet earth as seen from space has given me yet another arty farty idea… No, I’m not making a monster paper-mache balloon to hang in the garden but I am making a world map pin board to show off my framed holiday photos.

World map wall art appears quite popular and you can buy framed maps on canvas from many places such as The Range, Ikea, B&Q or Ebay etc but that would be simple, wouldn’t it? And I’m sure you’re beginning to see from this blog that I don’t always want to take the simple route preferring instead to blaze my own trail rather than follow the rest of the herd.

As I don’t know when we’ll get round to having the lounge/diner replastered then I’m using one of the derelict diner walls as a blank canvas for a large collage style travel wall with a framed world map taking centre stage.

Here’s how I’m making my world map pin board:

I’ve cut a piece of 3mm MDF board approx 6cm larger than the area of my map which I purchased from a website called GB Posters.

Vintage style map of the world - 91 cm x 61 cm

Now sticking a paper map straight onto a piece of MDF is not going to give you much scope for pushing in pins to highlight all those wonderful places in the world that you’ve travelled to so a bit of padding needs to be provided under the map.

I had considered using old cork tiles or even cork roll of the sort used by model railway buffs for this purpose but the price of cork is quite expensive so I’ve gone down a different road and used a pack of polystyrene board normally used for insulation. You can buy this in B&Q for just over £10 a pack.

Polystyrene board - perfect for padding

These polystyrene sheets are only 3mm thick so I’ve doubled them up to give me a thicker pin cushion layer. Easy to cut with a craft knife and can be glued together with PVA craft glue. Your polystyrene layer should be cut the same size as the map.

Doubled up polystyrene to create deep padding

Next glue the cushion layer centred across your MDF panel. There should be a nice border all the way round that can be painted in a colour to suit your decorative scheme. I’ve gone for a light grey colour to achieve a nice contrast with the framed edge.

Padding layers stuck in place and border area painted

Using pine mouldings, create a picture frame border to sit on top of your MDF panel. Paint then glue into place using grip fill or another strong adhesive. Caulk the mitred corner joins, touching up with paint as necessary.

Pine mouldings cut to form a frame

Paint mouldings before fitting to base board

Stick mouldings to base board with grip fill

Caulk corner joins and touch up with paint

Add brackets to the back of your panel to secure it to a wall.

Lastly, carefully stick your map onto the polystyrene cushion. Ensure you flatten out any air bubbles. A word of warning here – this part is actually quite tricky. I used PVA glue to stick my map to the padding but in hindsight, I wish I’d invested in a can of spray glue as this may have resulted in less air bubbles. Wetting the paper with damp glue also makes your map quite brittle and prone to tearing whereas spray glue may not.

Stick map onto padded cushion and dry flat before hanging

I’ve used some heavy cookbooks during the drying process to keep the map from lifting. If you want to add a clear protective layer to the front of your map, apply a clear self-adhesive plastic covering before sticking into place.