Make your own globe... lots of trial and error

My most recent projects all surround my recent globe obsession merging with my thriftiness. 

 I hadn't planned on doing the jute, sisal, or dictionary ball, so they probably won't all hang out together except in this picture. Long story short: I needed 3.5 inch balls for my "I need to make my own globe" kick. I didn't realize this and bought a bag of 3 inch ones and then later bought a bag of 4 inch ones. Sooooo, I had 1 or 2..... or 8 Styrofoam balls that needed a bit of creativity and a lot of hot glue. So much for being thrifty, huh?!

This whole project began with a "make your own globe" Google search. I didn't find whole lot of globes that I loved, but I did strike some gold and found a few I liked. I even expanded my search and found a great solar system with actual photos. I printed Earth, Venus, and the moon from that site and found a cool, older globe from another one.

Here is the Earth that I printed from the solar system site. Yes, it is as fun to cut out as it looks!

I printed my globes and began to work. I thought, and thought, and thought, and emailed people, and thought some more about how to actually MAKE them. I still haven't found 3.5 inch balls. I didn't want to "shave" off a half inch from the 4 inch balls... I didn't want to paper mache the 3 inch balls to make them 3.5 inches...

After about two weeks of no solutions and no 3.5 inch balls, I finally decided that I wasn't teaching world geography off of my globe-- it didn't have to be perfect. I wanted it to look tidy and decorative. So, I pulled out the 3 inch balls and got to work!

I used Elmer's glue. I actually made these while I was on vacation and didn't think to also bring my hot glue gun.That's how excited I was about this project and sharing it!

I used quite a bit of glue. I wanted to make sure it stuck well and, although I wanted it to be a bit "bumpy", I didn't want it sloppy. 

The poles of Venus. 

They overlap because the ball wasn't large enough, but, I ended up liking it better anyway! I also liked that this one doesn't LOOK like a planet. It is just a little ball with some stripes. I even liked the way the strips show up. It gave it some unexpected texture! And, because the ball was smaller than it should have been, I also had to cut off one "strip" from my printed pieces. They fir perfectly that way, but were still a little long at the "poles".

Earth actually turned out better than I expected. Because it was such a dark blue, I had to really work to get ALL of the white cut off. I didn't want stripes down my Earth. It already had lost one whole section of space and its ice caps shrunk a bit more. But, I think it turned out pretty good! It isn't perfect, but I prefer character over perfection :).

My South Pole is a victim of global warming and the ice caps are receding.

If you make this, use hot glue. I am a 'glue puddler', as my hubby says, and I used too much glue. It stuck well. But, after it was all dried, the glue washed out some of my printer ink. Luckily, it washed out on the parts that I didn't plan to show anyway!

I'm sure that there are people out there who know how to tweak their printer settings and make this work for 3 inch balls.  I am not one of those people. When you are not one of those people, you figure out how to work around that fact!

Although this batch is done, I am still not done on my "global mission". Anyone have any tips, any better ideas, any "I can't believe it took you weeks to figure it all out" comments :)?

Dictionary ball

Ever since I wallpapered with the dictionary, I've been trying to find other uses. I also matted a piece that I made with some.  I love the look that I've gotten so far, but I'm running out of ideas :). In an effort to use another of my Styrofoam balls and to use up a little more of my dictionary pages, I created this masterpiece.

Ok, maybe not a masterpiece, but it is my favorite decor balls that I have done so far. And, it was super easy.. my kind of craft!

I just cut strips of the dictionary. I made them fairly thin so they would lay flat on my ball. 

I had no rhyme or reason, I just glued. I did try to cover each strip with a perpendicular strip though. In my mind, that helped it to stick better.

As I got close to being done, I made sure that there were no green places showing through. 

When I got all the way done, I 'mashed' it around like it was a snow ball to make sure that everything was pushed down snug and secure. 

I really like it; it was basically FREE; and I used up an entire HALF page from my dictionary! Only about 800 more pages to go!

The other decor balls I also made. They can be found here for the sisal one and here for the twine. The globes are up next on the "to blog about list"!

DIYing is a (jute) ball!

In an effort to rid myself of the all the Styrofoam balls, I covered another today. Well, actually two, but the second will have to wait. I used regular Elmer's glue on it and I think it will take at least 3 weeks to dry!

Yeah, I know.. big surprise, the other one involves dictionary pages!

Today, we have jute! Yes, it is a lot like the sisal one I made. But, I worked smarter not harder this time.... I started on the END! And, since jute is about 4 times bigger than sisal, this one only took me about 10 minutes.

I like this one better because the jute isn't as "hairy" as the sisal, so it is a bit neater.And, I like the dark brown.

I did the same coil pattern on this one too. I think I'll make some with more of a "ball of yarn" look too.

I just realized I'm at the end of the pics I took on this one :). But, the process was easy. I started on the end and worked my way to the middle and other side. Then, I cleaned it up by clipping and pulling off my hot glue stringies.

Sophie hasn't discovered them so they haven't been beaten up by her...YET. I believe that their time is limited. Nothing is safe around here from the crazy kitten!

Sisal and styrofoam

I have a really cool idea involving Styrofoam balls. However, I keep buying the wrong size. So, this weekend I spent a bit of time doing a few crafts with the wrong sizes since I have them. (I haven't given up on my original idea yet! It will be here one day...)

In the meantime, I have a bag of 6 3inch green Styrofoam floral balls. They were cheaper than the white ones and I'm always wanting cheap. I also had a spool of sisal that I bought for my olive jar recycle project. So, I got to work.

The following will be a lot of "this is what I did.... but you should do this..." I took the road less traveled and it made all the difference, but not in the good Robert Frostish kind of way. I made it a lot more difficult and gave my thumb more burns than necessary....

Step number one not to follow: 

When you begin, do not start in the middle and then work your way to an end. It wasn't until I was almost to the end that I thought, "Shoot... I'm going to have half of it covered...." Yeah, it took me that long to realize it. I hot glued it on each side until I started getting closer to the end. The smaller the coil, the more glue I put on. That was mainly because the smaller coils wanted to slide off otherwise. 

 

Pretty, eh? I think so....

At least half of it anyway! I did the very end by filling it with glue and then coiling around. I cut it once I was ALMOST done and then spun the ball on my index finger to get the end down tightly. The things we do for cheap, cool crafts.... Since, I wasn't thinking when I started this one, then I had to start over in the middle on the other side. Again, I started in the middle and worked my way out. What did I have to lose this time? 

When I had it 'done' I still wasn't happy with it. I could still see the green Styrofoam. I knew that if I saw this on someone else's blog I would think "Oh, cool! I love how you can see the green Styrofoam through the sisal. I can't even tell it's the Styrofoam!". I would think that.. comment that and it would be true. But, I just thought that I will forever see this ball and see Styrofoam. So, I did another round on it. I was a bit smarter with this pass....

I found a place (on the end this time!!!) where I could see green and glued my end there. I didn't want to have to recreate the ends again. I thought that they looked pretty good. So, with this second go 'round I just filled in the blanks as I went around. I used a lot more glue this time too. I ended up almost completely recovering the entire ball, but it looks a LOT better after the second layer. 

Yeah, yeah... the sisal has green stripes randomly through it... Here I was trying to get rid of all the green. But, green strands in the fibers of the sisal is MUCH different than the Styrofoam ball showing through!

I mentioned that I have 6 of these green balls and I also have two 4 inch ones. (So, I realized too late that I need a 3.5 inch one for my original plan) In other words... get ready, I have more Styrofoam ball projects coming soon! These include, but are not limited to projects involving moss, sticks, twine, hot glue, and my old friend- a few pages from the dictionary I seem in include in every picture project and wall project I do. And... the one that started it all! (once I find that blasted ball the right size!) I know, I know... the suspense!!