Lesson 2: History of Maps and Mapping
Time allotment 3-4 weeks
Objectives: Understand the important role that maps had historically for mankind, research and present a researched theme on mapping through group or individual presentations, expand their comfort level with drawing, and learning the art elements and principles of design. Students will see that they too can create beautiful maps, compose complicated frames, and gain art drawing skills.
Activities: Learning about Portolan Maps and other styles, Reasons for Maps - A group presentation, Preparing paper and/or ink, planning and designing your map (fantasy, scavenger, treasure, etc) making paper look aged, marbling the paper. Present information on Mapping, research in the school's library or use the computer lab to research on chosen map theme, work in teams (cartographer's shop) or individually.
Materials: paper (all kinds), collected foliage, pot and heating element, quill pens, India ink (option), water. wooden frame, sieve with holes of about 1 mm (available in a hardware store), Formica sheets, rectangular bowl/container large enough to fit the frame, mortar with pestle, jug, hairdryer, newspaper, green and dried grass (optional) flowers (optional), flat sponge and water
Nut-Gall Ink- Iron gall ink (sometimes iron gall nut ink) is a purple-black ink made from iron salts and tannin (TANIC ACID) from vegetable sources. It was the standard writing and drawing ink in Europe, from about Iron Gall Inks the 12th century to the 19th century, and remained in use well into the 20th century This recipe is taken from Household Cyclopaedia of General Information, published in 1881 (found in Wiki-pedia). It is not in common use now, though the preparation of inks with similar methods was common at one time. Recipe for 1 gallon of ink:
Twelve oz. nut-galls, 8 oz each, sulphate of indigo and copperas, a few cloves, 4 or 6oz of gum arabic
The permanence and water-resistance of the iron and gall-nut formula made it the standard writing ink in Europe for over 700 years. Its use only started to decline in the 20th century, when other water-proof formulas (better suited for writing on paper) became available. Nowadays, iron gall ink is manufactured chiefly by artists enthusiastic about reviving old methods.
What is an Oak Apple? An oak apple is a mutation of an oak leaf caused by chemicals injected by the larvae of certain kinds of gall wasp. They are so called because the gall, which can measure up to 5cm in diameter but is normally only around 2cm, looks a little like an apple. European oak apples are caused by the Biorhiza pallida gall wasp and American oak apples by Amphibolips confluenta. Oak apples may be brownish or reddish. Other recipes can be found on line. Have students research these! http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm#3>
Hand-Made Paper Procedure: - soak some of the newspaper in water (it's better if you let it to set for a day or two) - squeeze out the excess water with the mortar and pestle, crush a little bit of paper at a time until you get a homogeneous paste, consisting of fibers isolated from each other - repeat this until you have enough paste, fill the bowl halfway with water - put the paper paste in the bowl and stir it to separate the fibers - remove any resulting clumps (a dense suspension of fibers must remain in the water) - immerse frame in the watery suspension in the bowl (the sieve should be facing bottom bowl) slowly remove the frame from the suspension keeping it steadily horizontal; eventually move the frame to even out the layer of fibers - wait for the water to drain; place the smooth side of a sheet of Formica on top of the sheet of paper still soaked with water. Press on the Formica a little to drain the water, taking care not to deform the sieve - with a sponge, collect water from underneath and squeeze it away every so often - carefully remove the sheet of Formica so that the sheet of paper remains attached to it - let the sheet of paper dry. To do this more quickly, you can dry it with a hairdryer
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