Painted Pirate Map

A real treasure map for the little pirate at our house.

I started by drawing a design on paper- nothing fancy, just four pieces of copy paper taped together. I started with pencil, then traced with a marker so it would show through for the next part.

Then I put a square of white cotton fabric on top. Again nothing fancy, just a discounted scrap I found in the remnants bin at the craft store. I used a pencil to trace the lines onto the fabric.

I thought maybe the fabric was a little too white, so I dyed it using tea. I normally don't drink tea, so I just snagged a few bags from the breakfast bar of our hotel one weekend. I put a few cups of water in a pan, brought it to a boil, then added the wadded up fabric and the tea bags and left it there overnight. The next morning I had a nice dirty map!

Then I painted with some acrylics using a sponge brush, q-tip, and waded paper towel depending on the texture I wanted.

After the paint dried, I used permanent markers to draw in the details or add color where needed. By this time I had lost my original drawing, but I think I remembered enough of the cool stuff to make it work! 

To make a fun gift, I packaged this rolled up in a treasure chest with a lock and key, a bandana, and a play spyglass for some ready-made pirate fun!