Probably the most artistic star charts I have ever seen were done in 1693 by Ignace-Gaston Pardies. The star charts are in a “gnomonic projection,” six of which make a celestial cube. If you print the Pardies Celestial Cube from David Rumsey out on 11”x17” paper and add seven tabs using these directions, you can make a nice little model of the heavens to keep around.
Lots more ways to look at the Pardies star charts are on David Rumsey’s website.
A kit for making a globe from the Pardies star charts is on Giuseppe Civitarese’s Paperpino website, and it is an involved project for someone with an artistic bent. It takes many, many hours even after the necessary materials are gathered. The result can be quite lovely, but I had trouble getting the gores to neatly meet at the celestial equator, so I hid my troubles with a narrow ribbon.
Walker requested the Cassini gores I showed. I also got them from David Rumsey’s website.
