Thorin's map

[krasimir]

Here's one of the test maps. It's one of four tests. This happens to be with one with text labels (some pretty small, so will be removed) and no parchment texture added in Photoshop.

All the wear and tear are physical - rasp and sandpaper for fold lines and details, hobby knife for the edges. The stains are mostly Ranger distress inks (Walnut, Soot). The dotted lines and crosses were done in acrylics to test paint absorption. Lava has been heavily repainted too and it works fine. I'm wondering if I should seal with a W&N matte varnish.

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map_details.jpg

Here's one with parchment texture. It's pretty dark, so I've used it for testing. Yes, there's even sand glued to the side.
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Last, I'd love to tie the whole package and seal it with red wax but somehow I can't find a suitable arrangement. Any ideas?
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[Falconius]

Last, I'd love to tie the whole package and seal it with red wax but somehow I can't find a suitable arrangement. Any ideas?

Multiple sheets of paper? You can roll them and seal them, or you can fold them up and stack them and then have a blank sheet which you put them in the center of and fold it so the seams meet in the middle. Or you can copy the idea behind a modern envelope (which is obviously a derivative of this sort of thing) and have the corners meet in the middle. There are lots of ways to do it really. Paraffin (candle) wax probably isn't the best choice for this though. If you have a bottle of Makers Mark you can probably steal the wax from that , or alternatively stationary stores might have wax sticks just for this purpose (they may also have wax stamps of letters). At least I think that is where I got one but that was like 18 years ago.

[krasimir]

That will be a lot of bottles of Makers Mark! But really, wine shops here sell red wax for sealing bottles (or envelopes).

I got inspired from this image of Daniel Reeve (WETA) sealing a stitch.

[Falconius]

Pfft, like you can have too much Makers Mark.

Really I thought you were talking about one package which you would be giving the group of players, but I may be in the wrong conversation here. Also I thought you would be doing one seal where the strings or whatever meets. Do you intend to seal all the seams? Do you intend to stitch it together (I'd recommend a linen wrap in that case)?

[krasimir]

@ Falconius I'm open to ideas!

The map needs no stitching as it is. It's folded in three because there's a total of 9 areas (3x3), so the folding makes sense.

I tried tying it together and it doesn't look half bad. Maybe a red wax seal on the knot where the strings meet would be OK. My only concern is that this will force players to break the seal in order to look at the map. I was looking for a way to enable them to remove the strings and the seal intact.

[Falconius]

Well the whole point of a seal is to break it open

You can do what monarchs and such did with important documents and have a seal on the document page itself (they used to use the royal seal or whatever next to the signature, generally with ribbon tails and whatnot too). Or you could go the Asian way and have an ink stamp on the inside.

If you want to do the string thing and be able to slid it off you could do it with saran wrap or some clear polyethylene between the stings and the paper. You should be able to peal that off the wax back leaving it looking good but still have the seal removable.

[krasimir]

So wrap it and place the seal on top! Sounds like a good plan

[Tracker]

Hello:
When I was younger i tried to age paper for a school project. I read of using oil on the paper and then drying it out in an oven. Two issues, do not use any animal fats or oils, the second make sure you know the smoke point of the oil and the ignition point. I almost had to replace my mom's oven. I then tried to use the burn edging approach for making paper look old. With practice I stopped burning the entire sheet of paper. It took me about 50 sheets to get to that point.

Advance to the present.

Aging paper has gotten easier with the popularity of art supply stores and chains. Yellowing paper to make it look old you can either buy the paper that way or get an aging kit at n art store. I have also been told that exposing the paper to the elements, moist to dry over an over again will age it quicker. I have not tried the last one yet.

Tracker

[arishok]

Bit expensive imo.

I'd do what was all ready suggested, though if you go the route of scanning the finished product to duplicate it, I'd be sure that (if you want something quality) the scanner you're using is professional grade. If you're in college or have one close to you, oftentimes the photography programs and graphic design programs have really rad scanners.