This weekend I turned an old bowling ball that I found at a garage sale into a gazing ball-like piece of yard art. A penny bowling ball!
I bought this bowling ball, bag and pair of old used bowling shoes (yuck) at a church garage sale all for just $1.00. I knew I only wanted the bowling ball itself, so the other items were just along for the ride.
How To Make A Penny Bowling Ball
The first thing I did was fill in the finger holes with paper towels until there was about 1/4″ of the holes left and then filled the rest of the holes in with some caulking I had laying around the house.
And then threw the bag and shoes into my Goodwill pile.
I wanted them to be all bright and shiny so I decided to clean them with my beloved Coke Zero to see if Coke’s cleaning abilities are an urban legend or not.
So I emptied a roll of pennies into a bowl and added the Coke Zero and let them sit for five minutes.
The Coke Zero cleaned them a little bit, but they were definitely not as bright as I was expecting them to be. It’s not often that my Coke lets me down.
So then I searched the Internet for other penny cleaning tips and ran across some science experiments for kids that uses 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of table salt to clean them.
The vinegar is 5% acetic acid and dissolves the copper oxide on the pennies. The salt acts as a catalyst to speed up the process. But enough of the fascinating science lesson of the day.
Anyhow, I just put the pennies in there for about a minute, rinsed the solution off them and they came out amazingly shiny.
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Next I used Dap Clear Silicone Sealant for Doors And Windows to glue the pennies onto the bowling ball.
I glued them all heads up, but that was my OCD kicking in – you could mix it up if you wanted. Or maybe do all heads except for one tail???
And here is the finished project.
I tried sitting my penny bowling ball on my birdbath base as a regular gazing ball.
Then I remembered that I had bought this silver chafing dish pedestal at a garage sale. It’s almost like it is made to be a penny bowling ball holder.
Of course you could place it directly on the ground or leave one of the finger holes exposed and place a wood dowel to stake it in the ground.
Another fun bowling ball project is my Mosaic Bowling Ball made with dollar store gems.
And you can find all sorts of gardening ideas and projects on my Gardening Page. Anything from instructions for making Hypertufa Containers to How To Grow Peonies Your Neighbors Will Envy to How To Make Winter Porch Pots.
Original article and pictures take www.houseofhawthornes.com site
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