Howdy peeps! So this is a project and not just a 2-step DIY. Like seriously – it’s taken me 3 days to finish it, but mainly because I’ve been super lazy about it and it also involves lots of paint drying. But let me tell you the story of how I became finally motivated to finish it:
Today I had a pretty terrible day fighting with everyone and their mama at time warner cable. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with them, being tossed around from one representative to another so finally I put on my coat and marched straight to their office in midtown Manhattan. And let me tell you, I LEFT NO STONE UNTURNT. Aaaaanyways I was pretty frustrated after that and felt really sad about living in this sometimes-horrid city so I decided to finish this ‘wanderlust’ project I’ve been working on.
I’m really into globes, and studying/playing with one sometimes makes you and your worries feel so small – in a good way! I had seen this hand-painted globe on Anthropologie’s website, and as with much of their inventory it cost as much as my cable bill. So I decided to hack it, being the avid DIY-er that I am. I bought a used globe off eBay, but I find that many others in the blogoshpere who have done similar projects found theirs at thrift shops. Go wherever you’ll find it the cheapest!
What you need:
- Repurposed/old globe
- Black chalkboard paint
- Pastel blue paint ( I didn’t have the exact color so as you’ll see in the pictures – I mixed mine)
- Gold vinyl
- Die-cutter ( used my Cricut Explore)
And if you don’t have a die-cutter:
- Gold foil permanent marker
*I’d advice putting some old newspaper down before you get started. I didn’t do it until I actually got white paint on my coffee table. I freaked out.
I painted the continents first with my blue paint, making sure to mimic the outlines of the actual map. Then I painted the “waters” with the black chalkboard paint. I chose chalkboard paint just so that I had the option of writing on the “Pacific Ocean” area with chalk if I ever wanted to. I had to do two coats of each paint color and allowed at least an hour of drying time between each coat.
Then I lettered each of the continents on paper and then digitized them for computer use. This is quite a lengthy process if you’re new to it so I suggest going to a font website like myfonts.com and type out the name of the continents and save samples to use. Note that you don’t have to go through this process if you’ll be using an electronic cutting machine – you will be writing directly on the globe with a gold paint pen.
Open your continent names with your electronic cutting machine software and size them according to your globe. I then cut these names out of gold copper-ish vinyl and used transfer tape to place them on my globe. I def skimmed over this explanation but you can find more tips/info on the website of your cutting machine.
IF YOU AREN’T USING A CUTTER: Use a pencil to lightly outline and plan the continent names then when you’re satisfied, go over with the paint pen. I actually prefer direct hand-lettering and would have opted for this if I wasn’t so eager to finish the project. This definitely takes more patient than cutting the words out of vinyl.
I really love how this turned out! I sometimes give my finished DIY projects away as gifts because I have a tiny shoebox apartment – but this is one thing I’m definitely keeping for myself. If I can score more cheap globes I’ll definitely be painting more of them and experimenting with different styles.
This is a perfect weekend project because it is quite time-consuming, but I promise you the level of satisfaction you’ll feel after you are done is unparalleled.
Wishing everyone a great weekend and remember to make something!
Ya girl,
Essie
