Garden Art - Bowling Ball Garden Spheres

You can make garden spheres out of recycled bowling balls. They don't blow away in the wind, and they won't shatter into a million pieces if they get knocked off their stand. You can paint them or glue things to them. If you live in an area that gets freezing temperatures over the winter, you will want to bring your ball inside for the winter. An unheated storage shed is fine. Bowling balls are made up of different materials and some will shatter when exposed to water and freezing temperatures.

Complete instructions as well as more examples can be found on my website. http://www.gardensandcrafts.com/bbart.html

Step 1: Finding and Preparing your Bowling Ball

You can find bowling balls at garage sales , thrift stores and bowling alleys. Many times you can get them for free at bowling alleys or on Freecycle, all you have to do is ask.

Always start with a clean and prepped bowling ball. Use rubbing alcohol or vinegar to get the wax finish off the ball. Sand lightly to rough up the surface, then rinse and dry the ball before painting or gluing.

Comments

[karen608]

Last year I found a ratty bowling ball next to the road in my town. This year I am going to make a rock ball out of it. Thanks for spurring me to action. I was thinking also, I could make some lighter weight ones out of two plastic bowls glued together then decorated, or use foil, shaped into a ball, then go over that with patching concrete, and add the decorative bits. Not sure how it'd work but cheaper than buying things at the garden center!

[l8nite]

A lot of bowling balls are already neatly colored and make cool garden accents, I have a dozen or so scattered around, for a couple of years I had a solid red one with a piece of black electrical cable stuck in one of the holes, it looked like a giant cherry bomb!  Yours look pretty awesome....

[miamiwings]

hard to find used bowling balls.

[GardensAndCrafts]

You can find used bowling balls at some thrift stores or get them free off www.freecycle.org or even Craig's List. I just post an ad that I need a few and usually get a dozen responses. You can also ask for them at your local bowling alley....they usually will give them away. I've gotten dozens this way.

[miamiwings]

I just saw your reply.  Sorry it took so long to answer.  I never thought of freecycle.  Thanks

[peacenique]

Now, all of them are lovely, but this one grabs my attention most. I think it would be wonderful to cover the ball with mirrors as it will then reflect the sunlight in the garden. Thank you so much for the instructions and inspiration. It just so happens that I am the proud new owner of a bowling ball!

[PlayPatterns]

no way that thing's going anywhere....

[artist without a medium]

Awesome...I made mosaic birdbaths out of terra cota pot bases one year for christmas presents .This is one I'm definenately going to do. People were laughing at my bowling balls sitting outside.