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Hi, I've just discovered your site - it's full of fantastic information!!
I've just volunteered to make a 3d map of lapland for my children's primary school, and was thinking that chicken wire and papier mache could be the way forward.
I was wondering if anybody has done a 3d map before, and if so do they have any pictures or useful advice for me? I've not used papier mache since leaving school myself, so I am a complete novice, but can't wait to get started!
Anita.
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Well, what do you mean by a 3d map? Is it going to be in the shape of a globe or is it going to be a flat surface with raised pieces to show places?
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It's going to be flat with raised bits for mountain regions and low bits for lakes - I've got an old 150cm x 75cm picture frame with 10cm deep sides and the hardboard still in the back that I was going to use for the base. I'm guessing chicken wire would be good to make the basic shape.
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perhaps chicken wire would be a bit clumsy for a relatively small area. You might try scrunched up pieces of paper to create the elevations, or layers of corrugated card, each one smaller than the one below. Once you lay your paper laminate over it, it will be quite strong and look realistic.
DavidO
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I believe Lapland is the northern part of Norway and Sweden, esp the part that is above the Arctic Circle.
Crumpled paper, as David suggested, or bent cardboard, or crumpled aluminum foil might also give more dimension without being as difficult to handle as chicken wire. Within a frame of that large size, the 5,000-6,000-ft mountains shouldn't require too much actual height.
Sue
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That is a great help, thanks - I was struggling to find somewhere selling small enough amounts of chicken wire, so I think I'll have a go with the scrunched up paper/tin foil and see what happens!
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Some members of a class I teach made a 3d map last year. We used sheet polystyrene and papier mache. We worked out that the depth of the polystyrene sheets could represent 10m of height, then worked out the width and length of the model from that. We traced contour lines onto polystyrene and cut it out (you can do this with a new, very sharp craft knife with the blade out long enough to go through the polystyrene.) We carved away the top sharp edge then stacked the sheets and glued them together. We then added egg-box papiermache to fill in the approximate shape and did finer adjustments with tissue paper papier mache. It was then painted with ordinary classroom readymix paints.
If you are doing a big area (ie lapland) you may find that the mountains etc are so subtle that they don't look as mountainous as they should, and you might find that you need to cheat by using a different height scale than area scale
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If you're studying Lapland, you're probably knowledgeable about the peoples. But, just in case . . .
"Lapp" means a patch of cloth for mending, thus the name suggests that the Sami are wearing patched clothes, a derogatory term and one that needs to be replaced. The word "Laplander" is also problematic since that could mean any person who lives within this region, also those that are non native. Finally there's a part of the Sami population who always have lived outside the region of "Lapland" such as the Sami's in Swedens, Jemtland and Härjedalen.
DavidO
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