Thursday Theme - Solar System, Part 1

Each Thursday I'll feature items that have a similar theme.  They might be quilts, books, or purses I made.  Or, they might be ceramics or other objects (not made by me) related to the theme.  If there are too many, I'll spread them out over multiple, but not always consecutive, posts.

Today's theme, Solar System, relates to the homework assignment I gave you in a previous post on my globe.  I asked you to take a look at my One World quilt and find the connection from Earth to ... (your assignment was to fill in the blank).  

  

This is the green fabric used in the Dresden fans.  A few planet names were visible in the quilt, and now that you see a larger section of the fabric, you can clearly see that the connection is to Earth's solar system. 

This series will look at books I made on the solar system.  We'll walk through each of the planets in their order from the sun, from closest to farthest.  If you don't know the order, use the mnemonic I learned while doing research on the solar system:  "Many very early mornings, Jack skates upon Ned's pond."  Two more books will follow - one on the sun and one on the solar system as a whole.

First up is Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.  This is the cover.  Although later books are somewhat color-related to characteristics of the planet, this one is not.  It was one of the very first books I made, and I chose the paper for no reason other than it was shiny and attractive to me at the time.

Some of the inside pages.  I used that stamp because Pegasus had wings, and Mercury had winged sandals.

Inside the back cover, showing a stamp from Project Mercury.  Each of the books has a last page with the same fact sheet (order from Sun, distance from Sun, etc., tailored to that particular planet.
 

  

Next in order is Venus.  Lots of stereotypical "woman" stuff going on here.  Shame on me.  This is a purse with a cameo of an ancient Roman-looking woman.  Inside the purse is the book.  Note the pink!!!

This view with the flap lifted up reflects a more modern woman.

This is the book.  It opens like a fan.

Third rock from the Sun is Earth.  Note the globe!!!  Wavy paper evokes waves on the oceans.

The pages open up accordian-style and can be tied together with the beaded tassles you see on the cover photo.  The idea is to make a 360 degree "globe".  Blue paper is for the ocean, green is for sea-level areas, and the peach is for mountains.

This section talks about the layers of the atmosphere.

Interesting fact from these pages: The North American continent continues to move west over the Pacific Ocean basin, at a rate roughly equal to the growth of our fingernails.



That's it for Solar System, Part 1.  To be continued on some future Thursday...