Thursday 3 October 2013

Star Constellations - Beautiful Crafting Ideas

I was always fascinated with star constellations. Most of the constellations can be traced back to ancient asterisms long Before Christ. I love ancient Greek mythology, an area that I was always keen to learn more about.

I found some amazing craft ideas in the internet based on this subject, which I would love to share with you. Maybe it will inspire you, too.



Libra - hand-embroidered linen rabbit on Etsy by MayBeMe


ursa major constellation - soft sculpture animal on Etsy by MountRoyalMint 


DIY quilt kit of the Southern hemisphere on Fab by Haptic Lab


DIY tutorial for a constellation scarf on the wonderful blog a beautiful mess


Ursa Major Constellation Pillow on Etsy by love, california


Hoodie with handmade appliqué The Great Bear constellation on Etsy by  Zoe's lollipop



DIY tutorial for a constellation table runner by the inspirational blog  Design*Sponge 



Some geeky Information:
I know I am a geek and I know I am one of those persons who ask too many questions. 
Although people condemn Wikipedia as not accurate enough - I consider it as one of my favourite pages. Well, I was that kind of child who always wanted to inherit my father's huge Brookhaus collection (encyclopaedia, similar to the Britannica). So, forgive me if I had to though in some facts:

In many cultures, constellations were a tool for orientation and therefore important for the seafaring. Single bright stars were merged into a group of 5-20 stars and considered as a visual unity, and assigned to a mythological figure, an animal or object.

The constellations as we know them today, where defined 1922 by the IAU (International Astronomical Union). Forty eight constellations were based on the Greek constellations which were catalogued by the writer Ptolemy in the 2nd century in the Ancient Library of Alexandria.
Thirty of them have an even longer history going back at least to the Late Bronze Age (in particular the zodiacal constellations from the old Babylonian astronomy).

In 1603 Johann Bayer published a star atlas Uranometria Omnium Asterismorum, which was the first atlas to cover the entire celectial sphere and was based on the research of other astronomer of his time and used the star constellations of Ptolemy. 

There were several attempts to rename the star constellations. Julius Schiller published 1627 a star atlas in celestial cartography to replace pagan constellations with biblical and early Christian figures. It was considered as a curiosity and didn't gain wide acceptance. 

Besides the IAU constellation mapping, there are other completely different ones from other cultures such as those from Chinese, Indian, Mayan and Australian Aboriginal astrology. 



Tutorial for constellation medallion keychain by Nature Watch
 



I still haven't given up on the idea of learning the constellations one day. 

I'm always amazed by the clear night sky whenever I am in rural areas and I can see an amazing sky, away from the city lights, especially when the Milky Way is also visible. 

Maybe I should try to use my Smartphone app ‘Planets’ more or simply make some handmade medallions as above. 


Update 14/10/13

2 comments:

  1. There are some lovely ideas there for things to make Caroline! I particularly love the hoody :) I also love the stars and would love to learn constellations one day. I remember a friend of mine having stick-on fluorescent stars on her bedroom ceiling when we were at school but her dad had put them on there in the right order of the constellations, how wonderful! Thanks very much for linking up to my blog, I'm really pleased to have found your blog, it's lovely. I have followed you on G+ and I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Natalie for the positive feedback! I'm new to blogging, so that's really good to hear.
      As a child I always dreamt of having the ceiling filled with the flurescent stars, but they were quite expensive back then. Well, it's never to late :)
      Finally have time now to have a look at the linking-up. See you there...

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