Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this “Constellation Tower” idea for a while, and I finally got something that kinda-sorta works. I wanted to build this thing that looks like a tower, but also shows off constellations. Here’s how it went down:
First Steps: Getting the Idea Straight
First, I needed a plan. I’m no artist, so I knew it wouldn’t be some super detailed, realistic thing. I just wanted something simple. I pictured a basic tower shape, and then I’d somehow put stars on it to make constellations. I spent a good chunk of time just sketching stuff on paper, trying to figure out how the heck I was gonna pull this off.
Building the Tower (The Hard Part)
The tower itself was the first big hurdle. I decided to go with cardboard because, well, I had a ton of it lying around. I started cutting out these long, rectangular pieces. I figured I could tape them together to make a sort of tall, boxy shape.
- Cutting: This took forever. My scissors were dull, and my lines were all wobbly.
- Taping: Even more frustrating. The tape kept sticking to itself, and the cardboard kept bending in weird ways.
Eventually, after a lot of trial and error (and some very messy tape jobs), I had a tower-ish structure. It wasn’t pretty, but it stood up, and that was a win in my book.
Adding the Stars (The Fun Part… Kind Of)
Now for the constellations. I thought about painting stars, but I’m terrible at painting. Then I remembered I had these glow-in-the-dark star stickers. Perfect!
I grabbed a constellation chart online (thank goodness for the internet!), and started sticking the stars onto the cardboard tower. I did the Big Dipper first because, you know, it’s the easiest one to recognize. Then I added Orion, Cassiopeia, and a few others. It started to look like… well, it started to look like a cardboard tower with glow-in-the-dark stickers on it. Which, I guess, is what it was.
The Big Reveal (And What I Learned)
I turned off the lights, and… it glowed! It actually looked pretty cool in the dark. The constellations were visible, and the tower shape was there. It wasn’t perfect, not even close, but I made it.
Here’s what I take away from this whole thing:
- Planning is key: Even a rough sketch helps a ton.
- Cardboard is harder to work with than it looks: Get sharp scissors! And lots of tape.
- Glow-in-the-dark stickers are awesome: They saved my project, seriously.
- It is ok to not perfect!It is my style, isn’t it?
So, that’s the story of my Constellation Tower. It’s a bit wonky, a bit messy, but it’s mine. I might try to make a better one someday, maybe with wood or something. But for now, I’m pretty happy with my little glowing cardboard creation.
