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This'n'thatlas

In one way or another, we've all imagined a place that doesn't exist. Sometimes it's fantastical, and sometimes just on the other side of town. Why not bring these places to life, of a sort, by creating your own atlas?

You will need:

A large-format scrapbook, bound watercolour or mixed media book, or other large book to provide space enough for the project and with paper that can take a beating as far as adhesives and other media goes.
Your choice of writing, drawing, and painting media.
A selection of ephemera suitable for affixing inside a book - exactly what you'll need will become more clear to you as the project goes on, and might be different for each section. Some items to consider are old maps, stickers, flat found objects, photographs, magazine cuttings, leaves, flower petals, etc.
Adhesives such as glue sticks, double-sided tape, and scrapbooking tape in a roller.

Now, to play!

Add as much information to each of your project spreads as you wish, but the basics would be a map and a description of the place.
You can create cities, whole countries, other regions, or even just a neighbourhood, and there's no rule as to which you do first - the map or the info. One can definitely inspire how you approach the other.
You can also spend a whole book doing one locale, or you could do an entire planet's worth of nations or an entire nation's worth of cities and towns.

If you go with map first:

There are several methods for creating fictional maps, but the easiest is to pour a selection of small, dry items onto a piece of paper - beans, popcorn kernels, etc. - and trace around them.
That outline becomes the basis for your map.
Mark, colour, and label the map as suits the place you're describing.
You can spread the map across both facing pages, or put it on the left-hand page only - or the right one. Whatever you choose.

On the facing page, if you're doing the map on one page method, you can start to add the information about your fictional place.

Some things to consider including are:

a name
what are the people who live there called
the names of languages spoken
some words from that language
the flora and fauna
local culture and industry
exports
postage stamps
what the local alphabet looks like
names of towns if you're doing a whole nation
the name of the capital city
street names
names of books or other creative items made by locals
local inventions
restaurants
money
etc.

A whole big list of other things to consider:

Write a brief history of your fictional location that might include events, dynasties, cultural movements, conflicts, etc.
Design regional symbols that might include flags, coats of arms, mottos, etc.
Develop a cultural identity that might include values, beliefs, customs, traditions, faiths (or lack thereof), foods, drinks, etc.
Create notable figures and legends that might include famous historical figures, mythical creatures, legendary heroes, past rulers, impactful artisans, etc.
Describe on the economic systems, industries, commerce, and trade routes of your fictional location.
Mix and match elements from different cultures to create something unique.
If your fictional country or town is large enough, consider creating regional variations
Does your world have a timeline? Plot a timeline of significant events in your fictional world's history.
Develop unique architecture that could include distinctive buildings, monuments, landmarks, bridges, schools, or homes.
Create unique natural features such as mountains, rivers, forests, waterfalls, forests, or canyons.
Create an education system that discusses how knowledge is passed down and acquired, what schools are like (or even if you have them), how people are taught, apprenticeships, etc.
Create educational materials that could include textbooks, pamphlets, infographics, magazines, posters, workbooks, or propaganda materials.
Create fictional flora and fauna.
Create a fictional government and political system that could include the political structure, voting systems, governance, laws, and institutions
Develop a unique system of measurement that includes how weights, heights, widths, distances, speed, and time are calculated and listed.
Write items that could include stories, legends, short stories, myths, verse, lyrics, anthems, poetry, plays, etc.
Produce artistic creations like visual art, music, or dance.
Create a fictional calendar that reflects the unique cycles and rhythms of your location. You could include days of the week, months of the year, how dates and written, holidays, seasonal events, or astronomical phenomena.
Design unique clothing and fashion that could include accessories and adornments, footwear, millinery, cosmetics, how those things have evolved, how they're made, fabrics, etc.
Ancient artefacts and historical items that could include a collection of mysterious relics, lost or former technologies, archaeological finds, ancient monuments and other structures, objects in museums, etc.
Offshore items like aquatic flora and fauna, underwater geography and geology, wrecked ships, etc.
How local libraries work and what they have for people to use.
How the culture creates third places, how they function, and what they provide.

You can add as much or as little detail to each as you want.

Using the aforementioned ephemera, decorate these spreads as you see fit.

You can use pre-existing materials as inspiration for new textiles from your locale.
Images of existing animals and plants as inspiration or starting points to make new animals and plants with.
Draw on existing images or cut images apart and arrange them accordingly.
Notepapers to write local things on like: poems, songs, grocery lists, restaurant menus, etc.

Whatever else you might be inspired to use to augment your atlas.

If you're feeling particularly energetic, inspired, and crafty, you can create entire dioramas or other settings to photograph for your atlas. If you do these in shadow boxes they'll be easier to keep as decor for later, and easier to hang on a wall.

And when you're done - or even before you start - create the cover to suitably house your imagined world. Paint it, draw it, or cover it in decorative papers and hand-lettering - maybe even cover it in old postage stamps, or use your own.

Notes:

This project can certainly be adapted for group use - for a family project, or for a classroom project as well.
Design and create imaginary artefacts or relics from a fictional world or alternate reality.
Create a series of objects with unique histories and purposes.
Try to avoid using wet glues, as they can make a mess that can damage your work or the surface you're using.

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