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    Home » Yard Art And Upcycled Garden Decor

    How to Make A Penny Bowling Ball

    Published by Pam Kessler | 516 words. · About 3 minutes to read this article. - 81 Comments

    This weekend I turned an old bowling ball that I found at a garage sale into a gazing ball-like piece of yard art.

    A penny bowling ball!

    How to make a penny bowling ball 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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    How To Make A Penny Bowling Ball

    The first thing I did was fill in the finger holes with paper towels until there was about ¼" 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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    So I emptied a roll of pennies into a bowl and added the Coke Zero and let them sit for five minutes.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    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 ¼ 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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    (This post does contain some affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy here.)

    Next I used Dap Clear Silicone Sealant for Doors And Windows to glue the pennies onto the bowling ball.


    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    I tried sitting my penny bowling ball on my birdbath base as a regular gazing ball.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    Then I remembered that I had bought this silver chafing dish pedestal at a garage sale. It's almost like it is made to be a penny bowling ball holder.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    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.

    How to make a penny bowling ball, fun and unique yard art for your garden. And some people say the copper pennies repel slugs!

    Another fun bowling ball project is my Mosaic Bowling Ball made with dollar store gems.

    DIY yard art for your garden made from a bowling ball. Great upcycle project!

    New For Spring 2021:

    Purchase printable garden planner

    Check out the web story version of this article HERE.

    Other posts you may enjoy:

    25 Upcycled Garden Ideas

    Repurposed Sink Planter

    DIY Terrarium Tutorial

    How to Make Hypertufa Planters (LIGHTWEIGHT concrete planters)

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Anonymous

      September 16, 2012 at 8:46 pm

      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.

      Reply
    2. Gay Vaughan

      September 29, 2012 at 9:56 am

      That is one of the coolest use of pennies I have seen! Happy to have found you.

      Reply
    3. Weave

      November 01, 2012 at 9:03 am

      This 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...

      Reply
    4. Kristafee

      March 18, 2013 at 3:01 am

      Hi, my questions is, how does it keep slugs away?

      Reply
      • Katie Murphy

        May 29, 2019 at 10:18 am

        Garden centres offer copper tape for just this reason. It "shocks" the little buggers!

        Reply
    5. Pam

      March 18, 2013 at 5:23 pm

      @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!

      Reply
    6. Jennifer Gail

      March 22, 2013 at 1:25 pm

      Turned out nice:)

      Reply
    7. Margaret

      April 15, 2013 at 8:10 am

      Great 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.

      Margaret from Moving Forward

      Reply
      • Anonymous

        May 07, 2014 at 10:49 am

        I live in Canada also, but just recently got rid of $100 in pennies. I should have kept some!

        Reply
    8. Arlene

      June 08, 2013 at 3:33 pm

      What a fantastic idea... everyone's yard sales will be hit for a bowling ball, I see.

      Reply
    9. Chris Rothenbach

      June 30, 2013 at 9:40 am

      any coin that rerpels elk?

      Reply
    10. Katy

      December 27, 2013 at 11:04 am

      What a great idea. I also like the idea of placing a dowel into one of the holes and stake it in the ground. This would be great for the garden. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    11. Ang

      January 27, 2014 at 4:32 pm

      gathering supplies to make my own penny balls (one for me, one for my mom).... have you had any issues with the pennies sticking to the balls after weather conditions have hit for a few years now? I'm trying to research the best adhesive to use but I've seen a lot of people try to make these and have the pennies popping off... just curious your thoughts!

      Reply
      • Pam Kessler

        January 28, 2014 at 8:53 am

        I still like the Dap Silcone Sealant For Door & Windows that I used. I've only had one penny pop off that I can remember. But I don't leave mine outside in the dead of winter though. I normally bring it inside when the snow starts flying. It is outside all spring, summer and fall in the rain though and it's still holding up.

        Reply
    12. katiejo

      March 13, 2014 at 2:11 pm

      It's a great idea and looks terrific! One Question though...: With it being outside, it's bound to tarnish .. what do you use to a) prevent or b) clean up the tarnish? Or, did you use a sealant on the finished product to ensure no tarnishing?

      Reply
      • Pam Kessler

        March 16, 2014 at 7:42 pm

        It will tarnish again eventually. Mine lasted at least a year before I cleaned it again though and then I just used the salt/vinegar solution and rubbed it on with a toothbrush. I did not put a sealer on it but you could. Something like a spray clear coat from the hardware store would probably keep them from tarnishing if you want to keep the shiny penny look 🙂

        Reply
      • Sandra

        July 07, 2014 at 10:58 am

        Epoxy coat it, that'll seal it in and keep them shining!

        Reply
    13. Debbie

      May 05, 2014 at 6:34 pm

      Yeah, pretty cool idea! Good garden fun. Think I'll try this one.
      FYI Pam... You can also buy sealer from a craft store as well.

      Reply
    14. Anonymous

      May 30, 2014 at 8:40 am

      Very cool - definitely going to do this - have plenty of pennies!!

      Reply
    15. kcjan

      June 22, 2014 at 5:02 pm

      Thinking of doing this. Did your OCD cause you to start with a straight line? Or did you just "go for it"?

      Reply
      • Pam Kessler

        June 22, 2014 at 9:31 pm

        No, not really. It just seemed like a logical way to put the first few pennies 🙂

        Reply
    16. Sarah Krouse

      July 01, 2014 at 9:31 pm

      One of my faves!

      Reply
    17. Holly @ Your Gardening Friend

      July 25, 2014 at 4:07 pm

      How neat!

      My mom LOVES shiny pennies (actually, anything shiny and sparkly 🙂 ). She's also wanted a garden gazing ball but my dad finds them hideous so she has not purchased one. Her birthday is next week. Maybe I'll make this for her. I can probably find a bowling ball at Goodwill, but I'll probably pay more than $1.00.

      Thanks for the great idea!

      Reply
    18. Elaine Ezell

      August 01, 2014 at 5:54 am

      I've been looking for a bowling ball for a year to do this very project! I love it! May this weekend will be my lucky weekend!
      Elaine
      heartrocksinmypocket.blogspot.com

      Reply
      • Lonn

        March 24, 2017 at 12:12 pm

        Hi, I phoned up my local bowling alley and they had some used and some cracked balls they were willing to part with. I paid $5 for a non cracked and they gave me a cracked one for free.

        Reply
      • Marge

        September 26, 2018 at 12:02 am

        Bowling ally’s usually will give you an old ball ! Worth a try ! That’s how I got mine.

        Reply
    19. Anonymous

      August 17, 2014 at 5:35 pm

      Great!!!! I love it and when the sun shines onto it, it will be amazing!
      I think I'll make one with the 1 or 2 eurocents, because 1 I have a lot of them and 2 soon they will taken out of the system
      Fabienne from Belgium

      Reply
    20. Anonymous

      October 13, 2014 at 2:37 pm

      I just bought a bowling ball and bag at my local Goodwill for $4.00 and gave the bag right back to them. I looked at the three balls there and took a pretty purple one. I hope it will peek through the pennies for a nice effect. Ann F. Georgia, USA

      Reply
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