One of the most successful works in my webshop is the World Map Rust. And also the Scrapwood Map of the Netherlands is popular. It is therefore surprising that it took so long before I came up with the idea of making a rust map of the Netherlands.
Imagination
Of course they’re not photos, these rust maps. They are entirely the product of my imagination. And of my laptop. I kept on fiddling with textures, filters, shadows, and other effects in Photoshop until I was satisfied.
Ral colors
I made the first version of the rusty world map with a blue ship’s hull in mind. For this map of the Netherlands I thought a cream white hull (RAL 9001, for the experts) would be nice. And just like with the world map, I also made a signal black version (RAL 9004)
Whining
With this map I certainly don’t want to go whining about the deplorable state our country is said to be in. Okay, there are all kinds of things in the Netherlands that don’t make you happy: tax authorities, gas production damage compensation, housing shortage, inflation, coal-fired power stations, barrel organs. And there are countries with slightly better weather (Portugal for example) or slightly more spectacular landscapes (Iceland). Still, if I could choose, I would immediately reincarnate to the Netherlands in a next life.
Ore
No, I just like rust. Sure, I understand that you are not happy when it occurs on your boat (or car or bicycle). But if you have an eye for it, the colors and patterns are beautiful. And there are other signs of aging that make such a ship’s hull interesting. Scratches, bubbles, pits, dirt, algae growth, leaking traces, it’s all there on the Rust Map of the Netherlands.
Philosophy
And also from a philosophical point of view it has something beautiful. Rust is nature’s way of fighting back against technology. We humans can extract iron from ore and melt it and roll it into sheet metal, but nature just wants to turn it into ore again.
Seafaring
Besides, for a country with such a long coastline, with so many inland waterways, with such a long maritime tradition, with so many boats, ships, vessels, barges, sloops, yachts, schooners, pontoons, and other nautical equipment, such a rusty ship’s hull as a map is rather appropriate, isn’t it?
