This project is completed. And it is an interesting one. Here I tell you a little bit about the process of how it became and point out some of the more interesting aspects of it.

I also have a video on how to make this. That video is at the bottom of the page.

I am bulding a wizard's lair. It is for my youtube channel. And a wizard's lair has a whole lot of interesting stuff in it. And a good guess that some kind of a globe is part of that. So, for now I call this the wizards globe and it is a fun project. This is it at an earlier stage of the process. This project also ties into my project to make a fantasy map and the overall wizards lair project here

And there is an overarching and overlapping meaning to this globe because it is also a representation of the fantasy world from my upcoming novel The Left Handed Sword.

A Quick Look at the Project

The Stand is made so that there are three axes of rotation. This way the globe can be moved and rotated in any possible position or orientation. Standing in one spot you can move it so any terrain is exactly in front of you. You can get a look at the whole thing without moving. It moves in all directions.

The gimbals are those two round hoops. One is attached directly to the globe and the other attached between the inner gimbal and the larger fixed hoop.

There are a couple of things that I am modeling this after. First off there is this beautiful piece of equipment called an Armillary sphere. It is a model representing objects in the sky. My globe is all about the earthboud stuff but the armillary has a beautiful look to it and that is what I am shooting for. The picture at left shows an armillary sphere made in 1585.

My second inspiration for this project is the gyroscope. Maybe you are familiar with it, or maybe it is new to you. But it is a scientific instrument that has had a profound affect on the world. The big thing about a gyroscope is that it spins. It has a similar feel to the Armillary but the key to this is the function of the spinning.

There is a beautiful duality in these two projects. One describes the sky above and one works on the rotation of the earth below. My wizards globe, in a way, traverses these two.

The building of it

This started out a bit tricky because I had no idea how I was going to make a globe this big. It's about 2 feet in diameter. And it had to be reasonably durable and strong because of all the terrain on it. I talked to a lot of people about what I was looking for and somebody told me that an exercise ball might do it. So.... I bought an exercise ball and gave it a try. Sure enough it works great. It had to be nice and firm so it wouldn't distort much under the pressure of various arts and crafts supplies including clay.

Fitness Ball: Green, 26in/65cm Diameter, Includes 1 Ball +1 Pump + 1 Page Instruction Chart. No instructional DVD. (Exercise Gym Swiss Stability Ball)

The Base is carved all out of foamular home insulation foam that I bought at Home Depot. You can see it in the picture below. It is a companion piece to the wizards table.

The first step was to blow up the ball so it was nice and sturdy with very little give. Then I covered it with several layers of plaster cloth.

Activa Rigid Wrap Plaster Cloth, 5-Pound

Then I painted the terrain on it. This way I could tinker with it before I committed to making the actual terrain with clay. Once I was happy with it I made the terrain with Paper clay. This stuff is amazing :)

Creative Paperclay for Modeling Compound, 16-Ounce, White

Here is the finished globe and stand.

And here is a look at some of the landscape details

Watch the Video Tutorial here:

CREATIVITY: Genius: Transform Your Life Through: Creative Thinking, Problem Solving, and Peak Performance (Mental Fitness, Creativity in Business, Brain ... Block, Peak Performance, Critical Thinking)

Creativity: NOW! Top Keys to Unleash Your Creativity, Come Up With Brilliant Ideas & Increase Your Productivity Tenfold! Lead Innovation Through Creativity, ... Writing, Copywriting, Visualization)