Introduction: Saturday Night Fever Mini Disco Ball
Do you miss the 70's - do you long for the flares, platform boots and shiny lifestyle as shown in Saturday Night Fever? Well long no longer because with this simple instructable, I will turn your living room into a night club, your missus into a dancing queen and you into dance legend John Travolta. And all you need are a few old DVDs!
Step 1: Preparing the DVD: Separating the Layers
WARNING: DVD dust can get into your nose and eyes, plus there may be shards of plastic, please take care. You might want to think about a ventilation mask, goggles or gloves. Plus keep your workspace clean and tidy.
Okay, now let's begin:
First of all, raid the DVD cupboard - there must be some crap in their that you regret buying. Mine was Into The Sun with Steven Seagal (don't ask), but any DVD will do. Please don't use your Mum's favorite Barry Manilow in Las Vegas DVD though.
Most DVDs have TWO layers, it is the SHINY layer that we want, so we have to remove the COVER layer. To do this, we need to create a tab on the top layer so that we can pull the layers apart. Click on the steps below for how to do this.
Step 2: Preparing the DVD: Cutting the Mosaic Tiles
Now that we have our layer, we want to cut it up into small tiles. If you decide to make a ball about the size of mine, you will need to cut up about one and a half DVDs, but mine only makes a disco out of my bathroom (always a good time).
I challenge you to make a full size one, you could always use your girlfriend's season six DVD boxset of Sex and the City. Don't expect to hang it up in the bedroom though!
Please follow the steps below:
Step 3: Preparing the Ball: Making the Ball
The point of this last stage is to prepare the ball, the string from which to hang it, and to apply the tiles to the ball, once completed, a ball of the size below could be hung from your rear view mirror, in the livingroom window (like my granny does with those hanging crystals) or maybe start a mobile disco, and make your fortune.
I invite you to post your attempts. And in those famous words of the BeeGees:
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.
Steps below:
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34 Comments
8 years ago
It does sound good to use styrofoam
15 years ago on Introduction
instead of crumpled up newspaper try a styrofoam ball that way it's perfectly round. I like it though!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Dear Hethlee, Thank you for your suggestion. There was torrential rain the day I made this, so I could not leave the house. I just picked up what I found around me. I am very concerned about the environment, so for me these projects are more about reducing the waste in my household. The paper wasn't perfect. If I made another one, I would find an old tennis ball. However, I really do appreciate your comments, and I hope to see you again on my future instructables. Brendan
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
ooh tennis ball- great idea
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Dear Hethlee. I think that the tiles will also stick better to the fuzzy surface of the tennisball - what do you think? Brendan
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
You've probably found this out by now, but I definitely think it would stick better to a fuzzy surface! It's funny, I saw your disco ball thumbnail and immediately thought, "I should make a CD disco ball with a portable LED light pointing at it!" and then saw you used a DVD. It's great re-using these things. Did you know you can make awesome glitter out of the top layer of CD's?
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Cool idea. This MAY be the first instructable I actually get to doing :o) What about old racquetballs? Their surface seems more amenable to gluing.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Yeah, good call brendanconnal. I might spraypaint the tennis ball first though- black maybe? or silver
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
You can call me Brendan ;-)
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
lol, well then you can call me heather
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Nice eyes Heather!
14 years ago on Introduction
another thing if your cd keeps snapping you might wanna wear safety glasses I almost got some in my EYE!!
15 years ago on Introduction
Hi Brendan! I love your disco ball! It looks wonderful! I'm easily distracted by bright, shiny things-lol! I really do love anything that sparkles. I wanted to offer a "tip" for anyone working with CD's/DVD's when you need to cut them. It helps a great deal if you heat them a bit first with a heat gun (or I guess a blow dryer might work) before you begin to cut. Really makes a great deal of difference. I make jewelry with CD's, use them for mosaics, etc. and heating first is the way to go! Next, I want to mosaic a bowling ball. I saw this done on a show and it looked fantastic! I'm new here and your disco ball was the first thing I checked out! Thanks for sharing it!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Dear silverchakra, Wow, such high praise. The very first instructable you looked at - fantastic. You are going to give me a big head. I think that the hair dryer idea is a good one, but be careful not to warp the CD too much, or indeed over heat it too much and breathe in toxic fumes. I would love to see some pictures of your jewellery, and indeed your bowling ball once it is complete. How will you get the mosaic to saty on the ball when it is in use? Keep up the good work, and be sure to keep an eye on my future instructables. Best regards, Brendan p.s. if you really like my idea go up to the right hand corner and rate my instructable - thanks!
15 years ago on Introduction
Hi Brendan! I love your disco ball! It looks wonderful! I'm easily distracted by bright, shiny things-lol! I really do love anything that sparkles. I wanted to offer a "tip" for anyone working with CD's/DVD's when you need to cut them. It helps a great deal if you heat them a bit first with a heat gun (or I guess a blow dryer might work) before you begin to cut. Really makes a great deal of difference. I make jewelry with CD's, use them for mosaics, etc. and heating first is the way to go! Next, I want to mosaic a bowling ball. I saw this done on a show and it looked fantastic! I'm new here and your disco ball was the first thing I checked out! Thanks for sharing it!
15 years ago on Introduction
I'm having a disco party and I've been looking around for a disco ball. All the ones that I see run for 80 dollars to 300 dollars. But, Wow, that's cool, I've never seen anyone make their own disco balls, but now that I think of it, it couldn't be that hard, right? There were just a couple things that I would do different. Instead of making the ball that turns out not always being round, I would buy a craft styrofoam ball and cover it in resin. then I was wondering, why do you have to seperate the layers? why can't you just score it. So I did it that way FULL SIZE!!! (I conquered your request) It looks awesome. I would love to show it to you, but my digital camera's batteries just died yesterday and I haven't got around to buying new ones. lol. Great instructable. Thanks for saving my disco party!!!!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Dear creativechick8, I am glad that I was able to save you some money. I used to work on festivals and I saw one that was two metres in diameter. It was huge. The guy that rented it out, said that they are made in Morocco. I wonder how many CDs it would have taken to make it. I would have liked to have used a styro ball, but I was in China and was only using things that I could find around the house. With regards to the separate layers, they tended to split, so I pulled them apart. I would be very keen to see your ball, so when your camera is charged up again, please post a picture. I have to go to bed now to dream of shiny disco balls. Thanks for your comments. Brendan p.s try checking out some of my other instructables - I think you will like them.
15 years ago on Introduction
Awesome! I've always wanted a pair of disco ball poi. Plus, I can get free Ubuntu discs!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Dear megziewoodles, Thanks for your comments. It is good to know that can fulfil your dreams. What is Ubuntu? It sounds like an African tribe. Brendan
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
It's a Linux distribution. Basically one of the newer forms of the Linux operating system. And the computing faculty at uni has a couple of boxes of CDs for it that they're trying to give away.