DIY Gazing Ball and Stand

Years ago, my friend, Gail from My Repurposed Life posted a project that I just adored. She turned an old bowling ball into a DIY gazing ball, and I was completely smitten with the idea. I loved how hers looked and knew that if I ever thrifted a bowling ball, that I’d want to do the same thing.

And I’m pleased to say that over the past couple of years, I’ve stumbled across a couple of bowling balls on my thrifting adventures.

The first one I spotted was a rich, glorious cobalt blue. The price wasn’t great, but not ridiculous, so I took it home with this project in mind.

As luck would have it, though, I spotted a second bowling ball while thrifting. And from the looks of it, another beauty was hiding within the bag.

Swirly blue and white, like the Earth viewed from space or the sky on a quintessential summer day.

So, now I had two thrifted bowling balls to transform into gazing balls. I planned on following Gail’s steps, but I also had one more upcycling trick of my sleeve. Let me show you how I put it all together.

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From Bowling Balls to Gazing Balls

First, I waited until I had a nice low-humidity day to work on the bowling balls. The main step is to give them a glossy topcoat, so a breezy, mild day is just about perfect.

I set up my normal spray-painting station using sawhorses and our sawhorse tabletop. To keep the bowling ball steady and still, I sat it on the plastic lid from an empty peanut butter jar.

How odd that I’ve done two projects in a row where these types of lids play important roles.

Next, I wiped down the bowling ball with a damp cloth to remove dirt, dust, etc. After that, I wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to remove any oils left behind from its previous life at the lanes.

Then, I applied light coats of this glossy sealant. After all, gazing balls are always glossy- almost mesmerizingly so.

Bonus- the peanut butter lid allowed me to swivel and rotate the ball between coats, allowing even, uniform coverage.

When all was said and done, my DIY gazing balls were done and ready to be placed in a garden bed.

Except that I had one more element to add to the upcycling equation…

Making a DIY Gazing Ball Stand

I didn’t want my gazing balls to just sit in the mulch, so I decided to make a DIY holder. Back to the thrift store I went so I could scope out my options in the lampshade section.

In the end, I opted for this bell-shaped shade. It had a nice wide base (for stability) and a wide-open top (no cross bars for a harp/finial attachment).

I then proceeded to remove the fabric from the lampshade frame. The top and bottom “binding tape” pulled off easily. From there, I gently cut off the fabric section by section; the muted gold fabric was pretty enough to save for a future project. 

Binding tape might not actually be the proper term for the wrap on the top and bottom of the shade. But that’s what it reminded me of.

After all the fabric and (most of) the remaining glue bits had been removed, I had a nice clean, naked lampshade frame to work with.

A nice clean, naked frame that I then spray painted with a flat black paint.

Once the black paint had dried, I topped it off with a matte topcoat and that was it. Now my DIY gazing ball and stand were ready to be placed in our front garden bed.

DIY Gazing Ball and Stand for a Garden Bed

I knew the lampshade stand worked perfectly on a hard, flat surface. But I have to admit- I was worried about the success of it on the bulky mulch. But you know what? After moving a couple of pieces of mulch around, it was perfectly steady!

For now, I only have one DIY gazing ball stand and have to change the bowling balls out. But once I find a similar shade on a future thrifting adventure, then both can stay out full time.

Speaking of which, there are PLENTY of bell shades at thrifts. But most of them have a trio of cross bars across the top- and those get in the way of a resting bowling ball. I *could* cut them off with a Dremel, but y’all…I’m too lazy for that these days. I’d rather just keep my eyes peeled while thrifting!

I truly understand the name “gazing ball” now, too. Of course, I adore the color blue so I’m partial to my thrifted bowling balls. But I really can get lost in thought while staring at these things.

Think you’ll be peeking into bowling bags the next time you’re thrifting? Truthfully, not all bowling balls are created equal- some of them have no business becoming a DIY gazing ball. At least, not without some extensive bedazzlement…

But the pretty ones? Well, that’s another story (and project) all together…

Craft on!

S

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