This weekend I turned an old bowling ball that I found at a garage sale into a gazing ball-like piece of yard art. I bought this bowling ball, bag and pair of old used bowling shoes (yuck) at a church garage sale all for just $1.00. I knew I only wanted the bowling ball itself, so the other items were just along for the ride.
The first thing I did was fill in the finger holes with paper towels until there was about 1/4" of the holes left and then filled the rest of the holes in with some caulking I had laying around the house. And then threw the bag and shoes into my Goodwill pile (lol).
I wanted to cover the ball in pennies so I used roughly $4.50 worth. I wanted them to be all bright and shiny so I decided to clean them with my beloved Coke Zero to see if Coke's cleaning abilities are an urban legend or not.
So I emptied a roll of pennies into a bowl and added the Coke Zero and let them sit for five minutes.
The Coke Zero cleaned them a little bit, but they were definitely not as bright as I was expecting them to be. It's not often that my Coke lets me down.
So then I searched the Internet for other penny cleaning tips and ran across some science experiments for kids that uses 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of table salt to clean them. The vinegar is 5% acetic acid and dissolves the copper oxide on the pennies. The salt acts as a catalyst to speed up the process. But enough of the fascinating science lesson of the day.
Anyhow, I just put the pennies in there for about a minute, rinsed the solution off them and they came out amazingly shiny.
Next I used DAP Clear Silicone Rubber Sealant for Doors and Windows to glue the pennies onto the bowling ball. I glued them all heads up, but that was my OCD kicking in - you could mix it up if you wanted. Or maybe do all heads except for one tail???
And here is the finished project.
I tried sitting it on my birdbath base as a regular gazing ball.
Then I remembered that I had bought this silver chafing dish pedestal at a recent garage sale and I think it looks sort of cute on that. Of course you could place it directly on the ground or leave one of the finger holes exposed and place a wood dowel to stake it in the ground.
Pretty cool use of pennies!
ReplyDeleteLove this! This is just too cool. I visiting from Under The Table And Dreaming
ReplyDeleteI agree - very cool!
ReplyDeleteDropping by from Met Monday, 18ft island kitchen.
Allison
Atticmag
Really, really cute! I have always wanted to try glueing pennies on an outdoor project...I hear that they keep slugs from getting into strawberry patches and thought it would be good to glue them around the top of a pot of them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a clever use of old pennies and a bowling ball. Who knew how cute this would turn out? Yeah! Pam @ Sallygoodin
ReplyDeletePam~
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! I would have never thought about doing that. It turned out really well.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
~Dan~
What a fabulous idea. This turned out amazing! Who would have known ..coke! Fantastic job! Thanks so much for joining The Sunday Showcase Party. I greatly appreciate it! Hope you have a wonderful week! ~ Stephanie Lynn
ReplyDeleteHow very cool is this! My header shows some of the bowling ball garden decor I've made, but I've never used pennies. So clever!
ReplyDeleteHi Pam! I'll be featuring your Yard art tomorrow. Stop by and grab a featured button if you like! Thanks again for linking up to The Sunday Showcase! ~ Stephanie Lynn
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteKaty
This is so unique - love it - well done
ReplyDeleteThis is a truly wonderful transformation. So creative and clever!
ReplyDeleteThis is so fun! I bet it's a great conversation piece! ~Marcy
ReplyDeleteI have a bowling ball WAAAAY at the backyard, just visible from the deck...with a painted face on it. Everyone looks past the yard and pond, over the ledge of liriope, past the walkway and into the forest, and down toward the lower meadow, and then shrieks...what's that!? I have a much better idea now. No more scary bowling ball face! I'm turning it into a gazing ball. FAB idea!
ReplyDeleteNow this is a very cute idea!!!
ReplyDeleteLuv it!
Tam
very cool idea! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks fantastic and I love that you glued them all head side up! LOL! Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteVery cool and thanks for the tip on getting the penny's shinny. Enjoy,,and I love the silver next to the copper.
ReplyDeleteI have to make one of these. Actually I wanted a penny floor but the old man won't let me.,
ReplyDeleteSaw this on Pinterest awhile back and made one. So much fun, huh?! My OCD had me not using the new pennies with the shields. And I did them all heads up too, so it didn't really matter! Oh well, our quirks are what make us interesting, right?
ReplyDelete.....right?
Susanne.
I just finished my penny bowling ball, I spray painted it copper first so it is totally copper colored. I put mine all heads up too but if I make another one I think I'll just try random.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the coolest use of pennies I have seen! Happy to have found you.
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful idea.....and to add another layer of design, why not grout it? Color your grout first with grout coloring sand and fill in the gaps between the pennies. Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteHi, my questions is, how does it keep slugs away?
ReplyDelete@Kristafee - I don't really know much about using pennies for slugs, but I did google it and it appears it may react with their slime. I actually made my ball more for looks and to have something shiny in the garden, but if it does double duty then all the better!
ReplyDeleteTurned out nice:)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I have a bunch of pennies and wanted to make a project with them as they are no longer used in Canada. Just found your blog, new follower.
ReplyDeleteMargaret from Moving Forward