It’s that time of year (as it was last year and the year before) when geographers cozy up to zoom chats with spatially-minded friends, replete with our finest topographically-themed virtual backgrounds, our Lego assemblages meticulously arranged within view, and only our most coveted geography tomes visible on the bookshelf (plus a handful outsider works like the Farside Gallery or knitting books sprinkled in to best reflect our multifaceted interests).
Have you ever looked at a globe and thought…”You know, I think I could someday somehow craft up a sort of globe. I mean, why not; you carve up some canoe-shaped gores and just like put them together or something.”
I have.
Well behold, now we can all print out some 2D gores and gingerly tuck them into a 3D form! Download the craft template here—we’re all in this together now.
Crafty Bits
Here are some snapshots of my assembly process. If I can do it, you can do it better…
I printed the pages on cardstock. We have kids so there is always a healthy stack of cardstock paper lying around (if we were to ever run out it would be like Lord of the Flies). Regular print paper will work too, it will just be a bit more…delicate. Also, I used an exacto knife because I have one but I did a couple with scissors too and it went just as well.
After those charming little gore-lobes were extracted from their papery bonds I began folding them in. This part went surprisingly well; I thought I’d be fighting it and howling barbaric yawps deep into the night but it went together in a few minutes. I started by taping the ends of the lobes together (touching the equator together, taping inside), then ran a quick set of stabilizing tape bits along the mid-latitudes.
Same for the other hemisphere. See that white strip of paper edge along the seams? Me too. If you are a better crafter than me, you’ll run a blue marker along the cut edge of the paper before assembly. I am filled with regret, but will forgive myself in time.
Ok, this part was a joy. I was not prepared for how well the slots would fit and there was a satisfying little snap when the two hemispheres came together. I hope it goes that well for you.
You can’t tell in the pictures but my globe came out a bit oblong. Sort of like a rugby ball. Oh well, I’ll just say it was an aesthetic choice.
Willow hot-glued a button and ribbon to the top so we could hang it on the tree.
Could it do with a bit of craft-savvy trim work like yarn or piping along the seams to dress it up a bit? Oh yeah, for sure. Also, if you are pressed for time, try cutting out the template without the tabs, stack the two cutouts like a sandwich, and just tape the six edges. Then you might be able to form it into something globe-like when you pull the two poles apart.
So here is the paper globe ornament template, once more, if you want to give this fun craft a go! And if you do I would loooooove to see some photos of the process and result. You’ve been so generous in the past to share snapshots of the globe ornaments you, or your class, have made. It’s so fun. I hope you enjoy it and stay well my map friends!
Love, John
P.S. If you want to download my source ArcGIS Pro project and play with the cartography, you can fid it, and all the GIS steps that it took to assemble this template, in the second half of this blog post!
