Making the Gazing Balls (Disco Balls!) from Bowling Balls

From In the Garden

As promised in last week's garden resolution post I am determined to finish projects before starting new ones. One such project I recently finished (it was started-oh-about three years ago) is 'The Gazing Ball' project. Here is my wonderful display of my gazing balls in my new Non-Pool Garden. I arranged the two balls that I made (instructions follow); which are the black ball with auto safety glass and the gray ball with mirror pieces and added in the third ball (metal). I was excited to find a great way to display the balls in the garden. I used the chimney flue pieces (red tubes holding two of the balls) and the clay piece of a pipe I had salvaged (brown tall tube holding the stainless ball) as mounts. These pipes had been hanging around the garden for several years and it came to me that they'd be fantastic to use as stands for my gazing balls.


Now let's follow along so you too can make your own gazing balls.

From In the Garden

As regular readers know I have a lot of bowling balls in my garden and have posted about projects with them in the past. In fact, one of my very earliest posts on this blog still brings in a lot of traffic due to the bowling ball 'gazing balls' my good friend Geri made. Today's post is about my take on the gazing balls made from bowling balls.


Steps to making the balls:


Materials you will need if you wish to make your own are: a bowling ball, caulk, sanded grout, E-6000 glue, glass gems, broken glassware (I used a very thick mirror I broke into pieces as well as auto safety glass that was already broken) or crockware, or tiles, pebbles, (what you glue to the ball is limited only by your imagination!).


1. Fill the finger and thumb holes with caulk. Allow to dry and fill again if the caulk shrinks. Be sure it is completely dried prior to grouting the ball. Gluing is fine though if the caulk is not yet dried. 


2. Break your material into workable sizes: The first construction picture shows my broken mirror for my 'disco ball'. Here is the thing I did not expect that can cause major issues. Even though I placed the mirror in a double paper bag and hammered it evenly the mirror had more of a tendency to break into slivers and shards rather than into nice and convenient sized pieces I could easily glue onto the ball. I therefore used a screen to screen out the slivers and tried to break the mirror a little more evenly by breaking only specific pieces. This was not an easy task. If you have access to a glass cutter I would suggest using that instead of using a hammer to cut glass if you plan to make a glass ball. One more tip of note, however much you think you'll need to cover the ball-double it. Those bowling balls are actually quite big!

From In the Garden

3. Glue pieces onto the balls using the E-6000 glue. I have found this glue to be a perfect glue for outside projects. It dries clear and while it is messy to work with and has a strong smell (be sure to use only in a well ventilated house or garage or even outside) it holds the pieces very well in all weather. It took me a few days to glue all of the pieces onto both balls. I found applying the glue directly to the ball then placing my pieces on the ball made things go faster. I did not apply the glue to each individual piece. Work on small sections so the glue will not dry before you can set your pieces. Wait at least 24 hours before going on to the next step.

From In the Garden

4. Grout the ball. I used two different colored grouts (one gray and one black), but both colors were sanded grout. A large 20 pound bag costs about $15 at your local big box store. Grouting is messy work so I recommend you do this job outside. I used paper bags for cushioning but sat the ball on tin foil hoping the foil would not pull the grout out from between the cracks. Paper bags have a tendency to wick moisture away from the grout and will pull the grout out. I grouted both of my balls all at once. Wear disposable gloves to protect your hands. I allowed the grout to dry for a few hours before gently wiping it off from the glass. Be careful not to wipe too much grout off from the ball because it helps to support the glass you have glued onto the ball.


5. The last step I do to my balls and other grouted material I put in my garden (including my glass mosaics) is to coat the entire ball with a good grout sealer. In the case of the balls I used a high gloss sealer (it is the yellow bottle visible in the above picture). The high gloss gives the balls a finished look and brings out the best of the grout.


6. Now place in the garden!

From In the Garden

Now for my additional 'disco' ball. This is an old gazing ball I've had for a few years. I desired to bring it closer to the house so I could enjoy it from inside the house during these dreary winter days. I placed the ball on a stand on my porch right outside of my living room window where I can easily view it. This ball is sheltered on the porch from all elements-except the sun. And what does the sun do to this ball?

From In the Garden

The sun reflecting off from the glass creates a wild effect inside of the house on the ceiling that brings me so much pleasure. I can only liken the effect to that of disco balls in the 70s. Can you imagine the whole ceiling with these 'stars' on it? Delightful indeed....

in the garden....