If you needed some wall art, that is fun, bold and inexpensive try this Japan Silhouette – DIY craft. Also a great project to learn or remember you Japan geography. Did you know Japan has 6,852 islands, but only 430 are inhabited. Don’t worry you do not need to paint all 6,852. The level of difficulty of this project is very low but does take about 2-3 hours of work time depending on personal speed and focus. Drying time can vary depending on the type of paint you use. I used the kids’ old acrylics that dried in 10-20 mins. Buy a couple boards and make some fun wall art with your family!

Japan Silhouette – DIY Craft

What You Need To Make A Japan Silhouette

1. one scrap wood board any size you desire (I bought mine for 100 yen at Super Viva Home Center). You can also use a canvas or paper board.
2. one piece of sandpaper
3. three colors of acrylic paint – I used navy blue, white and red (great way to use all the leftover kids’ paint)
4. two paint brushes – one large for background and one smaller for map and heart
5. one Japan map silhouette printout from Google images. I then blew up the printout 200% to fit my board
6. one pair of scissors or cutting knife
7. thick drawing paper and glue (I found it easier to trace the map of Japan if the printout was glued to a thicker paper)
8. one pencil for tracing
9. one set of picture hanging hooks and wire
10. screw driver
11. wire cutters

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Steps To Make A Japan Silhouette

Step 1. Sand your board edges and front side. Paint front and edges of board the base color.  Two coats of blue was needed for mine.

Step 2. Print out a map of Japan from Google Images. Blow up to best size to fit board you have purchased.

Step 3. (optional) Glue the map of Japan to a thicker paper or paper board to make tracing easier.

Step 4. Using scissors or a cutting knife cut around the map of Japan as close of possible.  You do not need to trace exactly to produce a nice silhouette. I found that it was best to not try to trace the smaller islands. I added the islands in free hand.

5. Place cutout on board as desired and trace with a pencil.

6. Using a small fine paint brush use your second color to trace over the pencil tracing. Once the outline is complete fill in the map of Japan with the second color. I used white for the map of Japan. To get a solid look, you will need 2-3 coats of white depending on base color.

7. Paint in free hand smaller islands around Japan as best as possible.

8. Paint heart in 3rd color where you personally desire. I placed my heart over the Kanto area.

9. Last step is to add picture hanging hooks and wire in the back. My board was fairly heavy, so I screwed in the hooks and used double wire.

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Japan Silhouette – DIY Craft

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