Wanderlust Globe: How to Upcycle without a Cricut?

Unless you’ve been meditating in silence in the desert for the past few months, you, like the rest of the world, are living a new reality. Our lives have changed dramatically, often causing a mild case of cabin fever. During this time, I often found myself daydreaming of just forgetting about the world. All I was craving was just to set off to wander the globe.

To maintain some semblance of sanity, I’ve been keeping myself busy with a rapidly growing list of tasks. Some around the house and some for clients. I plan on sharing them in future posts. But I figured I’d share one of my earlier DIY projects – a Wanderlust Globe. It just seemed appropriate, as I am feeling even more nostalgic for travel these days.

For a while, I wanted a globe with “Wanderlust” written in gold for a fun detail in my home office. This was before painted globes were all the rage. And although I had seen some great ideas on Pinterest, I could not find one that matched my vision. Naturally, I decided to try and do it myself.

I thought it would be easy to find a perfect globe for what I had in mind. Then, I spent weeks scouring thrift stores, garage and estate sales. All I could find were cheapy plastic ones from the times when the USSR was still a country.

Sometimes you have to pay more for what you envision!

And then I found THE ONE. Unexpectedly. In the clearance section of Nebraska Furniture Mart. I felt so guilty, because I paid $40 – way above what I had budgeted. But when you find that perfect globe, you just can’t let it spin away.  

It was exactly what I imagined and I was immediately drawn to the light wood base and antiqued brass finish on the arch. Undoubtedly, this was a solid, high quality item. However, the sphere itself was torn and dirty and black outlining Africa and parts of Australia were completely missing. So, yes, $40 was definitely a lot to pay for this, but considering it was originally $460, I feel like I may have gotten a good deal.

Clean up

First, I needed to finish the job and completely remove the fabric. But someone didn’t skimp on glue, and caked on a ridiculous amoutn. I decided to outsource the job to my retired mother who’s perpetually looking for a project. After a couple of days of diligent scrubbing and numerous applications of GooGone, she managed to remove the last bit of the sticky residue. And the black plastic ball was ready to be painted!

Trusty chalk paint for full coverage

I used light pink chalk paint from Joann’s. I initially wanted something more mauve, but I did not feel like mixing my own chalk paint to get the color. Also, I found that it went better with the overall color scheme in the office, its future permanent home. The best part is how easy it was to apply chalk paint without needing any special brushes.

Stenciling made super easy

Once painted, it was time to stencil the word “wanderlust” on the globe. I don’t have a fancy way to make a stencil. I, also, think that some of the stencil machines create a lot of waste. So, I used the paper and pencil method. I found the perfect print of the word “Wanderlust” and enlarged the image until it was the right size for the globe. Once printed, I flipped over the paper over and shaded the words on the flip side with a pencil.

Then I scotch taped the paper to the globe and carefully traced the outlines of the word.

This part turned out so much better than I thought it would and after a few parts needing some eraser action, I was ready to fill in the letters! I impressed myself with my work, I forgot to snap a picture of it.

The pen I used for my gold letters was Uchida DecoColor Premium Paint Marker in gold …

… and the result was incredible. I ended up using it on a few other projects. It does not look like the other Metallic pens where you can tell it is done with a pen. This one actually looks like liquid gold. Slanted tip allowed for great line precision.

Once this was done,I felt like it needed something else so I free-handed an arrow at the end of a broken line going around the globe. I applied two coats of the General Finishes top coat and then it was time to put it together. 

finishing touches

Once I mounted the globe I realized that my Earth was a little wobbly on its axis like it was missing some spacers. I am still not sure if I have them somewhere or if I never had them. Instead of turning the house on its head looking for those pieces, I decided to cut out two circles out of cork, and use the same gold pen to paint them, and it worked like a charm. 

These days The Wanderlust globe sits in my office. Stoically, It is waiting for me to finally put the space together, so it can finally shine.