This is where I live: mountain map of the Rossland Range in my home in Rossland. Get one of your local mountains by selecting Custom mountain map as your perk!

The wood-carving robots live in the valley

I’ve been working on making beautiful, tactile, custom wooden globes for two summers now.

I’m nearly there, but I have a problem.

I live in the mountains.

The wood-carving robots live in the valley, 2,000 feet down a twisting, mountain road.

As a part-time paramedic, I see the accidents that happen on that treacherous road on the worst days of winter.

To finish work on these globes, I need a wood-carving robot of my own, right here where I live.

With your help, I can create a wooden globe for my home, for yours and for many others’, a captivating reminder that this is where we live, this planet is our home.

Down to the fine grain

The wood-carving robot I need to create these globes – a ShopBot Desktop CNC router with essential accessories – will cost $15,000 Canadian, delivered to my door.

I can cover the first $10,000; I need your help with the remaining $5,000.

In return for your pledge, I’ll send you a perk from a simple thank-you note carved from 1/8" plywood to a magnificent 12" diameter globe carved from fine North American hardwood.

I’ll be able to deliver some of the perks sooner than others. I’ve already created prototypes of the continent dome maps and the mountain maps: I’ve generated the files that tell the CNC router how to carve these 3D relief maps; all I need is the CNC router to start making them and sending them to you.

The globes will take longer. I’ve created prototypes of the pieces of these globes, but with limited access to a CNC router, I haven’t yet made a complete globe. So there’s work to be done. If it’s a globe you’re after, take a look at the delivery dates and the challenges outlined below, and make sure you’re comfortable with the risks and the wait times.

All the maps and globes will be precision machine-carved from fine North American hardwood and painstakingly hand-finished with museum-grade microcrystalline wax.

I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to packing up the first maps and globes and shipping them to you, wherever you are!

OK, doctor, tell me the worst

I’ve already eliminated some of the biggest risks in the making of these globes:

• I’ve proved that I can get a beautiful finish in maple wood by carving maps of the local mountains;
• I’ve fine-tuned the contrast between the oceans and the continents by carving North America and Antarctica as they would appear on a globe;
• I’ve experimented with ways to carve both sides of each separate piece;
• I’ve tried different ways to join fourteen pieces into a globe.

But there are challenges to come:

• I need to finalize the methods for carving both sides of each piece and for joining fourteen pieces into a globe;
• I need to pay particular attention to the alignment of the carving on the two sides of each piece and on adjacent pieces, so that the mountains line up seamlessly across the globe;
• I need to prove the design of the simple wooden stand I’ll be supplying with each globe.

Remember, these globes don’t exist yet, because it’s hard to get enough time with the wood-carving robots down in the valley. That’s why I need your help. With a CNC router of my own, I’m confident I can make these globes a reality.

Who is this globe guy anyway?

Oops, sorry, in my enthusiasm to tell you about my globes, I left it a little late to introduce myself.

I'm Mark.

I'm a globetrotter who's been to all seven continents, and lived for a time on four of them, including Antarctica.

I'm a maker who can't stop creating: furniture, software, visualizations, books, maps and globes.

As a developer, I’ve conceived, implemented and released countless innovative software products, in fields as diverse as film editing and scientific simulation; so you know I’m a doer.

As a writer, I’ve completed four books, two of which have been published and went through many rounds of revision with myself, my agent and my editor; so you know I’m a finisher.

As a paramedic, I’ve attended to countless life-threatening injuries and illnesses, intervening decisively in the lives of others in their moments of crisis; so you know I’ll keep calm and do whatever needs to be done.

Let’s make the world out of wood

I really want these beautiful, tactile, custom wooden globes to exist. If you do too, there’s something you need to know.

This isn't a marketing campaign by an established company with dozens of employees and a mailing list of thousands. This is just me, Mark, with my one-person company, Kootenay Village Ventures Inc., trying to get this thing off the ground.

Which means that your contributions won't be going to pay off marketing consultants or video producers, they'll go straight into buying the carving machine I need to make my globes.

But it also means that the only way this is going to happen is if you help me get the word out.

Do you know someone who needs a globe in their life? (In my opinion, everyone needs a globe in their life.) Please point them to my website goodwoodglobes.com or this Indiegogo page igg.me/at/goodwoodglobes

If you’re on Instagram or Twitter, follow me @goodwoodglobes and re-tweet my campaign launch video. Use the buttons at the top to share this page on Facebook, Twitter or your own website.

In return for your early support, I’ve made the deepest discounts I can on the prices I’ll have to charge for my maps and globes in future. I’m also offering free shipping in the US and Canada, and 50% off shipping to the UK and the EU, even though it’ll cost me anywhere from $20 to ship a small world map within Canada to $300 to ship a 12" globe to the UK.

Thank you so much for helping me make the world out of wood!