British Isles 3D Map From Masking Tape

The original spark of this idea came when I read a story about a banana duct-taped to a wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It sold at an art auction for $120,000. (If you google "banana duct tape art" you can see a picture.)

As you might imagine, lots of people thought it was ridiculous and I in some ways it kind of was, but that's not the point. I think someone tore it down and ate it in the end. Anyway, I digress. It got me thinking that the value of art isn't about the cost of the materials used to make it. You can make something beautiful out of dirt-cheap materials.

For me, maps are beautiful things, so I set out to make a 3D map of the British Isles using masking tape.

• Mount board
• Thin masking tape
• Pointy stick
• Pencil
• Frame

The process was quite time-consuming, but pretty simple.

First I drew the outline of the British Isles onto the board in pencil and then got to work with the tape.

I took the tape and stuck it to the board in horizontal stripes and when I got to the land, and particularity mountains, I would 'ruffle' it up to give it some height and texture. Mostly the tape goes continuously all the way across the board, but sometimes I added some extra bits if there were some big features to get in.

That was pretty much it! I put it in a frame with no glass to make sure the light catches the contours and we're done.

It was a gift for my mum and we hung it in a bright room by a window so the light picks up the contours. When there's direct light on it, the map almost disappears but then changes throughout the day depending on the conditions.