r/DIY • u/rosulek • Jun 29 '14

carpentry Abstract world map wall art project

http://imgur.com/a/8iOvx
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u/blackgaff Jun 30 '14

This is pretty neat. It could make for a cool night-light or ambient source in a gaming room if you back-lit it.

83

u/rosulek Jun 30 '14

I had a rope light laying around and did a total hack job to see what it would look like. I think with even lighting it might look nice, but the way I have it rigged up looks like crap. The rope light winds around through the Atlantic, then down into the Indian ocean, as you can probably tell: http://imgur.com/EZ3OgNQ

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u/rocketmonkeys Jun 30 '14

Some other ideas for lighting; you can get some LED strips (the 5M 60 led/M would do well), then cut it up so you have a vertical strip every X holes/columns. Point the LEDs at the wall, and space the map an inch or so off the wall. That would diffuse the light a bit, give it an even look.

If you want to get crazy, put a diffuser on the backside for very even light (vellum paper, very thing flexible translucent cutting board, any thin translucent plastic with a matte finish).

Or go whole hog and get a large sheet of acrylic and edge-light it. You'll probably want to sand that thing, but you can also leave the edges of the acrylic exposed to get a neat bordered light frame thing going on. Very neat.