Get Some Balls!

Okay, so I think the proper terminology is decorative spheres... but who doesn't love some good balls?  Sorry I couldn't resist. 

I'm sure everyone has seen these strange decorative spheres just about everywhere... and some are really beautiful and unique. 

But man can they get expensive!... starting anywhere from $3 or $4 a piece to as much as $10 a piece!  If you want to use several in a bowl or vase, you're looking at a pretty price tag.  So of course I've been on the lookout for something similar but on the cheap.

My mom actually found these for me at Tuesday Morning... she's always on the lookout for good, cheap stuff too... and these just happened to be in the clearance Christmas decor.  I believe she scored these for $1.25 each.

She had already found me 3 pretty ones (at the thrift store), that looked similar in size and design and I wanted to mimic the colors to have a matching set. 

So I gave them a few coats of spray paint with Krylon in Almond satin finish.  Since these were ornaments I was able to hang them from a tree outside so I didn't have to do them in sections.  Even better!

Once they were dry I gave them a few coats of glaze.  I started with Valspar in Mocha and coated the entire sphere making sure to get in all the crevices.  Let that dry for a few minutes and then pat off some of the glaze.  Then I just put them on hangers and hung them up to dry.

Here's what they look like so far.

After that I put another coat of Valspar glaze in Raw Umber.  Same technique as above.

You can see part of how it looks below.  The last step is a black glaze (I mix my own) and LIGHTLY apply it sporadically over the ball.  I just used a brush to stipple it on. You can see how the top of this one is already done.

See how my brush is basically dry.  You don't want to saturate the brush on this last coat.

Then I just snipped off the hooks and strings and put them in this cute bird cage.  Total cost for these 4 plus the other 3 I had was less than $10. 

The next set is a fun one!  My mom, again the thrifty seeker, (and actually the one I get my good sense from when it comes to this kinda stuff), found these other ornaments... again from the thrift store.  Aren't these beautiful? LOL!

They were a bit larger than the others... and perfectly round and smooth.  So I just needed to find something to cover them with.  I knew paint wouldn't really work... so I brainstormed several ideas.  And finally it came to me.  MOSS!  Who doesn't love a good moss ball! 

They actually make this stuff now that has kind of a rubbery backing on it.... and it is so easy to use!  They call it super moss.  Clever! 

Well I had never used super moss before, nor had I covered any balls.  Spheres, spheres, spheres!  But I had some super duty strength spray adhesive on hand so I just started spraying and laying. 

I started at one corner and smoothed it on in sections, cutting around the areas that were gathering too much.  I couldn't take any photos because this was a MESSY project!  But it was basically quite easy.  Like I said, this super moss is really easy to work with... I was able to patch the pieces together and kind of fluff up the seams to make them look cohesive.  Here's how they turned out.

I only had enough of the super moss to do 3 full spheres.  But I think they look really cute in this iron bowl.  Total cost on this project:  $1 for all four balls, and $7 for the bag of super moss.  Again, under $10! 

Now don't you want to go get some balls?

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