Large NS Map With Painted Lighthouse

Got a request from clear across the country in Calgary for one of our wooden Nova Scotia maps. The one he chose was the New Nova Scotia Wood Map with a lighthouse scene painted on the map, except larger. If I recall, Jim said it was to be a Christmas present for his wife who is from Nova Scotia. Glad to help, and time to get to work. Christmas is coming!!

I looked through my papers and discovered I still had the drawing I used to make the smaller version.

Jim took that and scanned it into his computer highlighting the lighthouse and a couple of details, then resized it to be about 32 inches long and printed out two copies.

Before we could get started we checked our thin plywood stash only to find we didn’t have any pieces large enough so we were off to the hardware store. Holy crap. Since the last time we purchased 1/8th inch thick plywood the price has more than doubled. Where will it end people!! We bit the bullet and bought some. But I digress.

Once home, Jim took one copy of the enlarged map out to the workshop and got set up on our newish scrollsaw using the table I built him.

We decided to cut two maps at the same time by stack cutting the precious commodity plywood. This will leave us with a spare for a future project. With the pattern in place, Jim set sail around the coast.

We use spiral blades in the scrollsaw for this type of cutting. When Jim finds it is taking more effort to pass the blade through the wood, it usually means the microscopic teeth on the blade are worn down. He then takes off the blade and turns it around and uses the other side until the blade eventually breaks. He is thrifty like that! I think it took 6 or 7 blades just to cut out this project.

We decided for this map we would do things in a different order. We wanted to fully assemble the map onto the backer board before painting simply because glue and nails are in order and we want to fill any nail holes before painting.

The finished map and backer board was requested to be around 24 inches in height so we cut our weathered boards to the finished size and gave them a good sanding before assembly.

We lined everything up…

and started the glue-up process.

Jim cut small blocks of wood to raise the map off the backer board and those got glued in place.

Then the map got glued to the blocks and for extra measure Jim used the nail gun to make sure everything was secure and not going anywhere during shipping. Don’t forget this map has a big journey ahead of it.

We filled the nail holes and sanded and that means it is ready for paint. Finally.

I took the enlarged image of the lighthouse and waterline and transferred it onto the map making sure the water was in a straight line. Kinda important. Then got my paints ready and started with the lighthouse, then sky, and finally water and rocks.

With all the base colors painted, it was time for a cookie break.

Time for details. Not on the cookies…on the map. The fun part. Knowing when to stop or keep going is part of the madness. Finally I was finished.

We added two hooks and a wire for hanging on the back given the weight. Only thing left is boxing it up for shipping.

Love this map and especially the lighthouse. I imagine anyone familiar with Nova Scotia would automatically conjure up an image in their mind of Peggy’s Cove, although Nova Scotia is dotted with lighthouses all along the coast.

Safe travels map. Only 4,797 kms to go. Or if you still use miles… 2,981!

Later