Introduction: House M.D. Oversized Tennis Ball

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About: My name is Britt Michelsen. I am a chemical engineer from Germany especially interested in computational fluid dynamics. To balance all the theoretical work, I like to make stuff in my free time

All over the web House M.D. fans rack their brains on where to find the mysterious over sized tennis ball also known as BOUO from the TV show.
It can be bought in the official store with a big logo on it, but I wanted to have one that looks exactly like the one on the show. So after a long time of searching through pet stores, I thought of a way how to make it myself.

Btw if you know where to find or how to make the grey saucer, please tell me.

Step 1: What You Need

Material
  • red and grey wool roving
  • white Casein paint
  • Styrofoam Ball (the diameter depends a bit on your taste, it grows notably between the first and the second season, mine is 12 cm)
optional:
  • olive oil soap
  • white vinegar
  • lighter
Tools
  • Felting Needle (If you are not that familiar with felting get more than one because they break very easy)
  • small paint brush


Step 2: Trace the Template

I've attached the template for a ball with a diameter of 12 cm. Simply scale it so that it will fit yours.

Make a stencil out of aluminium foil or anything, that you can place on the ball and trace the outline. Then use a ruler in order to trace the other line.

Attachments

Step 3: Needle Felting

Grab a little bit of your roving, place a thin but covering layer on the Styrofoam ball and jab it in with your felting needle, starting with the outline. Make sure, that the area is completely covered, else simply add more wool to cover up any open spaces. You will have to jab many, many times into the ball.
When you are happy with your first side, do the same for the second side.

If the small holes don't bother you (or you are just lazy ;-)) simply skip the next step.

Step 4: Wet Felting

This is probably not a very professional way on how to wet felt, but it worked pretty good for me...

First prepare a bowl of hot water (make sure not to burn yourself) and add olive oil soap (about a table spoon per litre). Then dip your hand into it and carefully massage your ball with circling movements. Start with the outline and then move to the middle. After a time you can use more pressure.

When you are happy with your result, prepare a bath of cold water and white vinegar and put your ball into it. Carefully move it around and let it dry afterwards.

I've used a lighter to carefully smooth the surface. But be very careful not to burn any holes into the wool or the ball. You should better do this outside, because it smells pretty bad.


Step 5: Paint the Line

In order to paint the line you should use Casein paint, it can be used for Styrofoam and is waterproof. Your paint brush should be the same size as your line. Simply paint all around the ball.

Congratulation, you are done!