My colleague Ayesha has a handsome globe in her cubicle. I was admiring it the other day, and a thought struck me: wouldn't it be cool if you could buy high-quality globes not only of Earth, but of the alien worlds described in fantasy and science fiction? Here's a list of globes I'd love for the den:
- Mars, as imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Mars, as imagined by Ray Bradbury
- Mars, as imagined by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Venus, as imagined by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Mongo, from the Flash Gordon comic strips
- Earth, as imagined in the DC comics universe
- Tatooine, from Star Wars
- Hain, from The Dispossessed
- Dune, from Dune
- Trantor, from Foundation
- Altair IV, from Forbidden Planet
- Vulcan, from Star Trek
- United Earth, from Star Trek
- Caprica, from Battlestar Galactica
- Solaris, from Solaris
- Krypton, birthplace of Superman
- Earth, as imagined by George Orwell
What worlds would you harbour in your home?
I found a couple of sites that make bespoke globes. If I can source a thrift store globe, it's easy enough to make a blank globe with gesso and then paint over that. Or... YOU can do that, it's easy enough.
ReplyDeleteThen paint on the continents. The lettering would be trickier, but you (or I) could go to a printer and have them make transferable letters out of your script.
This is a fantastic idea, Earl. When Susan mentioned this to me, she said "snow globe", which I thought was terribly weird for Arrakis or Tattooine. But looking into the project, I can see this as being not only doable, but incredibly cool.
I second the Barsoomian globe! A Death Star would be a bit on the nose, but it would look great in a globe stand. Alpha Ceti VI... you could load it with firecrackers. Could put a light bulb inside Coruscant and drill a bunch of holes.
I am upgrading this officially to a Very Exciting Idea! You could make an orthographic globe using Super Sculpey to make the mountains - be your own Slartibartfast and win an award for the fjords.
ReplyDeleteI've now seen globes where the oceans are enamel and the continents are gilded. Gilding isn't out of the question, although that globe would cost money. Golden Acrylic makes (no shit) a great golden acrylic that looks about 75% like real gold, especially from any distance more then a foot or two.
I'm so glad you like the notion! I'm sad that I don't have the artistic talent to actually create such a thing. Maybe I could serve as project manager for one or two though...
ReplyDeleteI will begin my search for cheap spherical Earth-maps - I will finally be a world-spanning globetrotter (check mark in bucket list applied... now.)
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