LOTR, Hand-inked Map of Middle Earth

[heffnerc1]

Number two pencils, coffee, cheap Wal-Mart blue watercolor, and sharpies. Collaboration between four very drunk friends.

Snowstorm, some quick questions - did you use the coffee stain before or after you did everything else? And did you sketch it first and then ink it in when everything was looking OK?

[Snowstorms]

Snowstorm, some quick questions - did you use the coffee stain before or after you did everything else? And did you sketch it first and then ink it in when everything was looking OK?

Whoa, sorry it's taken so long to get back on this! At any rate, we penciled everything in first. We made a cup of coffee with a french press, and literally poured the coffee over the paper outside, and set it inside the oven for 5 minutes to dry enough that we could then rub the grounds over it. We left the grounds on for a second run in the oven, and because it was still slightly damp, the grounds bled a bit of beautiful color. The photo was taken with a cheap phone, and doesn't really pick up how pretty that detail turned out. We brushed off the grounds after that, put it in the oven a third time until dry enough to ink.

All in all the process took a few hours solidly working, but we were all drinking and having a GREAT time. We've since met to do some other maps, such as Westeros, and have done some other experiments. Putting in lots of thick blue and green or blue and purple watercolors (any cheap brand will do!) on the ocean part before coffee-ing, and liberally adding salt over the top makes a FABULOUS looking ocean.

Hope that helps!