3.08.2010

Sisal and styrofoam

I have a really cool idea involving Styrofoam balls. However, I keep buying the wrong size. So, this weekend I spent a bit of time doing a few crafts with the wrong sizes since I have them. (I haven't given up on my original idea yet! It will be here one day...)
In the meantime, I have a bag of 6 3inch green Styrofoam floral balls. They were cheaper than the white ones and I'm always wanting cheap. I also had a spool of sisal that I bought for my olive jar recycle project. So, I got to work.

The following will be a lot of "this is what I did.... but you should do this..." I took the road less traveled and it made all the difference, but not in the good Robert Frostish kind of way. I made it a lot more difficult and gave my thumb more burns than necessary....

Step number one not to follow: 


When you begin, do not start in the middle and then work your way to an end. It wasn't until I was almost to the end that I thought, "Shoot... I'm going to have half of it covered...." Yeah, it took me that long to realize it. I hot glued it on each side until I started getting closer to the end. The smaller the coil, the more glue I put on. That was mainly because the smaller coils wanted to slide off otherwise. 

 

Pretty, eh? I think so....



At least half of it anyway! I did the very end by filling it with glue and then coiling around. I cut it once I was ALMOST done and then spun the ball on my index finger to get the end down tightly. The things we do for cheap, cool crafts.... Since, I wasn't thinking when I started this one, then I had to start over in the middle on the other side. Again, I started in the middle and worked my way out. What did I have to lose this time? 



When I had it 'done' I still wasn't happy with it. I could still see the green Styrofoam. I knew that if I saw this on someone else's blog I would think "Oh, cool! I love how you can see the green Styrofoam through the sisal. I can't even tell it's the Styrofoam!". I would think that.. comment that and it would be true. But, I just thought that I will forever see this ball and see Styrofoam. So, I did another round on it. I was a bit smarter with this pass....




I found a place (on the end this time!!!) where I could see green and glued my end there. I didn't want to have to recreate the ends again. I thought that they looked pretty good. So, with this second go 'round I just filled in the blanks as I went around. I used a lot more glue this time too. I ended up almost completely recovering the entire ball, but it looks a LOT better after the second layer. 




Yeah, yeah... the sisal has green stripes randomly through it... Here I was trying to get rid of all the green. But, green strands in the fibers of the sisal is MUCH different than the Styrofoam ball showing through!

I mentioned that I have 6 of these green balls and I also have two 4 inch ones. (So, I realized too late that I need a 3.5 inch one for my original plan) In other words... get ready, I have more Styrofoam ball projects coming soon! These include, but are not limited to projects involving moss, sticks, twine, hot glue, and my old friend- a few pages from the dictionary I seem in include in every picture project and wall project I do. And... the one that started it all! (once I find that blasted ball the right size!) I know, I know... the suspense!!

14 comments:

  1. Love this idea!!! Might have to try this one myself! :)

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  2. Oh yippee!!! I love decor balls...somewhat of an obession actually...can't wait to see yours!!

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  3. I tried wrapping plastic Easter eggs with sisal and just about lost my cool. Someone else blogged about it and made it look so easy. For me - not so easy!

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  4. Sounds like me - I would have wrapped it a second time too...

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  5. You are to funny!!! I've done things like that as well. They look nice. Can't wait to see what else you do with the balls.

    Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thurs. Pleas join me next week for another great party.

    Lori

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  6. Funny post! At least you stuck with it and now have a lovely ball to show for your efforts (and blisters).

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  7. Clever & looks very feng shui!

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  8. Love the finished project but looks like a lot of work.
    I looked at your olive jar re-do and was quite impressed with that result too.

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  9. You did a nice job, I love texture.

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  10. I think I burned my fingertips just reading this post! Love how it turned out.

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  11. I love that look Shannon! Great idea!! I'll have to make some for myself! Thanks for linking to Creative Cats this last Friday!

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  12. Somehow I think if I tried this I'd have glue everywhere. lol. Great project! I'm always seeing balls similar to this in gift shops, and they're kind of expensive. This is a fantastic idea!

    Thanks for linking up at my party. Hope to see you again this week!

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  13. the ball looks really good. Great solution of doing a second round to cover the gaps.

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