I came across this idea in the really lovely book, Sacramento Valley Feast by Wolfgang Rougle. In SVF, Wolfgang mentions hand-drawing a circular calendar which allows for tracking of events across a several-year period of time. I like the notion of keeping track of local land-based events and this seemed like a good way to do so, except that it was kind of time consuming to draw and get the proportions down right.
If the labor is spread over the lifetime of the calendar (5+ years depending on how big it is) it didn’t seem that bad. It just meant it had to be made in a very limited edition (of 1, if my patience wore out) and that as my original got rattier from moving and life any photocopies would be of lower quality. So I just left it “back burnered.”
Then, some time later, I came across a set of customizable graph papers. I immediately noticed one that reminded me of Wolfgang’s calendar and so I set out to make a standardized, easily reproducible version. The original, polar, graph paper is here. The blank version I made is shown at left.
This is a 13 week section of what eventually becomes a one year cycle that can be utilized for five years. It is English-centered, but feel free to adapt it to your needs using the blank template.
Now I’m experimenting with printing it on card stock (to make a more rugged version), making it foldable, as well as seeing what I think of simply a large wheel that can be pinned to a corkboard (or wall) and rotated). So far it’s worked out well to print it on standard letter paper then glue it to card stock with a glue stick.
If you would like to print this out for your own use, I’m including all four sections here. Simply click on them to open them up. Once they’ve opened, right click and choose Copy Image. Once you’ve copied it, paste it into a wordprocessing document. Extend the image as wide as you can, even decreasing margin sizes if you wish. Then, just print them out, tape them together and there you have a circular, cyclical calendar!
I’d love to know if you make this and what you use it for – drop a comment in the box below!
Hi, love unusual ideas for things, just wondered if you have a picture of the finished calendar please, can’t quite visualise how it works! great website and thank you for sharing your ideas
regards
Sandie
Oh gosh, Sandie – it’s one of those things that must be in the remaining not-yet-unpacked boxes. I’ve done it in two ways (truly, consistency is not my strength, it seems) – as pie wedges taped to my wall and as a whole circle, folded to keep small and portable. It’s not so complicated other than the fact that you have to keep track of it for the years you’re using it.
Glad to have you here and thanks for the comment and question!