The World is My Happy Place
3 Materials
$20
5 Hours
Medium
Stenciling - say whaaat. I have never had the patience required for the sometimes intricate detail associated with a beautiful stencil. That was until I decided to stencil a world map for my husband, an avid cartographer. I wanted to focus on the many places we have traveled during our thirty-plus years of marriage.
I used a 16x20 stretched canvas because it had to be large enough to accommodate the 20x14 stencil that I wanted to use. The stencil had to be large enough to reflect the small islands and other land masses.
I used a black glossy acrylic paint to paint the canvas. The black would reflect the detail that I was searching for.
This is where the trick of the trade comes in. After securing the stencil to the canvas with painter's tape; I used mod Podge around the edges of the stencil. This would keep the paint from bleeding under the stencil giving me the clean lines that I was looking for. I know that it looks messy, but not to worry because the Mod Podge will dry clear.
After the glue dried I used a small sponge dauber to apply the paint. I was careful to cover the stencil evenly and made sure that even the smallest dot was covered - can't go around changing the world geography.
While the paint was still wet, I removed the stencil and was delighted with what I saw.
As Louie Armstrong used to sing, "What a Wonderful World." There was Fiji off of Australia and the small chain of islands off the coast of Honduras. I did it! My husband loves it and it hangs prominently in his office.
It is true, "The World is Still My Happy Place."
Comments
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5 of 11 comments
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This is beautiful! You rocked it!
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I am totally inspired. I’ll be searching for a world map stencil right away on Amazon. ☺️
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I’ll use Mod Podge, thanks. ☺️
Frequently asked questions
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You said you wanted to focus on the many places you had traveled during your marriage, so I expected to see them highlighted in some way on the map. Do you plan to pin places you have visited or something?