Lately I have been seeing a nautical trend, which is comforting since I did my entire back living room in the same theme years ago. It was hard to find nautical items back then; and eBay was my friend for a lot of oddities, TJMaxx and Marshalls for others, estate sales, yard sales, the occasional dumpster dive, you know...
Although the room is what I would consider finished, my heart still longs for one thing. MAPS. I want more. I want antique maps, lake maps, ancient maps, ocean maps, globes, cartography on the ceiling, even.
I decided to venture out and try a few nautical-themed DIY projects. They are super easy and fun. But before you roll out the Modge Podge, you need a map.
Maps (aka cartography) 101
We've all seen these fabulous vintage maps. They are yellowed, the continents or countries may look a bit different than what Rand McNally has told us, maybe there are exciting sea creatures sketched to the side, but they all have one thing in common: I want them now, and where do I find them? I set off to my local thrift store. Thrift store is really an understatement, because I'm pretty sure the building is the size of an old Wal-Mart (pre Super Center days). I found an array of oddities. I was mostly looking for old atlases, but anything nautical would do, and yes, maybe a few more unusual suspects since soft covers were .25 cents and hardcovers only .50 cents. | Here's my haul. Plenty of materials for nautical projects and a few rarities (Cat Catalog? Finally!) I also printed some that I found online - if you decide to go that route check out The Cartography Collective on Tumblr. They have plenty of ancient maps and vintage as well. |