Introduction: Planet of Joy — a Space Home Embracing Sunshine and Poetry

By emilyma2009
About: I am a high school student from The Lawrenceville School, I'm a maker who loves blending art and technology to create fun, meaningful projects. Whether it's a gift for family, a surprise for friends, or someth…

This is the handicraft model I made in sixth grade..

The "second home" I envisioned is not just a cold survival outpost but a beautiful world that brings people happiness, relaxation, and poetic inspiration. Therefore, inspired by Earth's sunshine, beaches, and oceans, I created this joyful planet primarily using blue and yellow hues. To make the planet's environment more dynamic, I specially designed three moons for it. They rise at different times, emitting light of varying colors and intensities, bringing ever-changing and romantic scenery to the nights of the "Planet of Joy," much like a different light show every day. Simultaneously, to reflect its scientific plausibility, I used a cross-section display to reveal the planet's internal, complex yet orderly geological layers, similar to Earth's, demonstrating that it is a stable, realistic terrestrial planet.

Supplies

Main Materials:

  1. Foam Ball: Serves as the main body of the "Planet of Joy."
  2. Acrylic Paints (blue, yellow, white, brown, etc.): Used to paint the oceans and beaches on the planet's surface.
  3. Scrap Paper, Modeling Clay: Used to create the cores and surface textures of the three moons.
  4. Thin Wooden Sticks / Bamboo Skewers: Used to connect the moons to the main body and to secure the planet to the base.
  5. Black Cardstock or Shoebox Lid: Used as the display base.
  6. Air-Dry Clay or Colored Cardstock: Used to create the internal layered structure of the planet's cross-section.

Main Tools:

  1. Utility Knife / Craft Knife: Used to cut the foam ball and create the cross-section.
  2. Paintbrushes (various sizes): Used for painting surface details and the moons.
  3. Hot Glue Gun or White Glue: Used for firmly bonding components.
  4. Toothpicks: Used to assist in carving craters on the moons' surfaces.

Step 1: Painting the Planet Surface

  1. Use blue acrylic paint to paint the vast oceans on the spherical part of the foam ball.
  2. Use yellow and white paints to paint golden beaches along the edges of the oceans, using tonal variations to show the depth and texture of the sand.
  3. Allow the paint to dry completely.


Step 2: Constructing the Planet Body and Cross-Section

  1. Lightly draw a cutting line on the foam ball with a pencil. Carefully use the craft knife to cut out a 1/8 segment of the sphere, creating a clean cross-section.
  2. Inside the cross-section, layer different colors of air-dry clay or cardstock to represent the "Crust," "Mantle," "Outer Core," "Inner Core," etc., and create small labels for identification.


Step 3: Creating and Installing the "Three Moons"

  1. Crumple scrap paper into three paper balls of different sizes.
  2. Wrap these paper balls with different colors of modeling clay (e.g., silver-gray, light yellow, pale blue) to form the initial moons.
  3. Use toothpicks or pen tips to poke and carve craters and mountain textures onto the moons' surfaces, simulating the real lunar landscape.
  4. Insert one end of a thin wooden stick into a moon and the other end into the main planet body. Adjust the angles and secure with glue, ensuring a stable structure.


Step 4: Creating the Display Base and Final Assembly

  1. Use the black cardstock or shoebox lid as the base. You can add dots of white paint to simulate stars, creating a cosmic background.
  2. Secure the "Planet of Joy" to the base using a thicker wooden stick attached to its bottom, ensuring overall stability.
  3. Attach a printed project name and brief design concept description to the empty space on the base.