Attatch the maps and finish nicely

Step 3: Attatch the maps and finish nicely

8. Spread lots of glue all the way to the edges of your letter, position your map piece on and gently smooth it over working from one side to the next taking care to get rid of wrinkles. I recommend rubbing the whole thing with a soft cloth from the middle to the edges.

9. Soften the edges of your piece by putting a small bead of glue on your finger and running it all the way round the outside, don’t let your finger get dry and tacky as it will jog the paper. The adheres the edges really well and also makes the map look more like part of the letter as opposed to a separate layer stuck on top. This is optional but really does make a difference (and it only takes 2 secs).

10. Done! If these are going somewhere that they might be exposed to the wear and tear of day to day life I would varnish them. Also I left the edges of my letters plain but I think they would be really cute with the edges painted, maybe with colours that tie in with the map or maybe to coordinate with the room they are in. I would do this after sticking them all together but BEFORE sticking on the maps. I recommend acrylic paint and letting it dry very very well before any gluing.

As always I would love to see any examples that people make and the letters and shapes can be found at www.inf.co.uk

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morlin says: Jul 31, 2011. 5:08 PM

These look fantastic! I can definitely see doing these with maps and also photos in b&w and sepia tones. I think I would include a thick coat of varnish or modge podge whether made for a gift or not. Thx for the instructable!

Infinite_Ideas (author) in reply to morlinAug 1, 2011. 1:15 AM

Hi Thanks for commenting. First one ever :o) Yeah I was going to varnish them but am still having an inner debate about if I should paint the sides of them or not! (you can't see in the photo but some of the letters are overcuts from a customer's order and so are a bit bashed on the side). Great idea for the photos - have something writen with lots of other things you could stick on and will credit you for that one.