Map of the United States
01/12/2003
After building some smaller mosaics, I decided I wanted to build a big one. A very big one. After pondering the situation for a while, I decided on a map of the United States of America, not because I'm overly patriotic or jingoistic, but because I thought it would make a darn good subject. With sharp dividing lines and large solid blocks of colors, it wouldn't be horribly complicated. Lengthy, but not complicated.
The original map line drawing the overall plan image one of the 24 individual baseplate patterns
With the subject chosen, the next step was to decide on size. Obviously, I'd use 48x48 stud extra large grey baseplates as backers, but how many? I downloaded a map of the US and played with it in Paint Shop Pro, resizing it to fit various baseplate patterns. 3x5 seemed too small, so I went with 4x6. That works out to 288 studs by 192 studs, 7.5 feet by 5 feet.
Whoa.
I manipulated my map to add in blue for water, white for non-US land, and the states in five colors: brown, red, orange, yellow, and green. I then laid in gridlines in 6x6 grids, cut each baseplate out of the overall image and printed 24 separate patterns. Image processing, colorizing, and individually tweaking a great many pixels took about 10 hours.
The next step was pretty simple. Build, build, build. And then build some more. Each baseplate took between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on the complexity.
Once each baseplate was completed, I went back and added tabs onto each of them so they'd fit together, like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Each piece received three tabs on the top/bottom and one on the side. Total elapsed construction by this time is closing in on 50 hours.
Now it's time to install. Using a technique pioneered by Eric Harshbarger, I used two technic 2x8 plates to support each column of pieces. With them in place, it's a simple matter of installing each column, and putting the puzzle back together. Overall, each column weighs right around 20 pounds.
And lo, it's done. Installation took just about an hour. The completed 7.5 foot by 5 foot mosaic weighs approximately 120 pounds, and has something on the order of 30,000 pieces in it. A picture of my lovely wife shows just how big it is. I don't think I'll be building another big mosaic like this for a while, though. All those baseplates are expensive!
Finally, here are some details of the various states. In the bottom right corner of the mosaic is the embossed signature, also pioneered by Eric H. And that's the end of that. I really ought to build smaller next time.
Nah.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
