The third ball in this trio of spheres, the one at the front, is a new one. Once faded and grubby, it is now covered in mosaics and looks lovely with the others and balances the arrangement. I made the grey sphere on the left from concrete here. The one on the right is a trough float, one of several I collected over the years.
This is a retired lawn bowling ball. It was painted silver and looked lovely in the garden, but slowly the colour faded and washed off. Time for rejuvenation!
I am going to decorate it with mosaics. The colours will be stable and the texture created by the pieces of tile will add interest. It is a small piece and I will use small pieces of broken tiles and china to cover it.
It will be placed with these spheres when it is finished.
EQUIPMENT
- ball
- glue
- broken tiles or china
- safety glasses
- a hammer
- a plastic bag
- grout
- rubber/latex gloves
- rags for cleaning
I started by washing the ball. When I’d chosen the pieces of china I wanted to use I put them into two containers. Some pieces were too big. I slid them in a plastic bag and hit them gently with a hammer and they cracked easily. I wore safety glasses.
Next I glued them onto the ball, leaving a small circle on the bottom so it sits securely on the ground. I chose two colours to mix well with the other two spheres already in position. One container has plain white tiles, broken into useful pieces and the other had a green and white broken plate.
I used a multipurpose household glue. There are specialist glues intended for use with ceramics but this was a small job so I used a glue I had and it worked well. Working on a sphere meant the pieces would slide down the sides if I put too many pieces on at a time. The glue needs time to cure.
When the glue was cured I mixed up the grout. Wearing rubber gloves, I pushed the grout into the gaps until they were all filled. I also sealed around the base. Using a rag, I wiped the excess grout off the tiles, then used a damp rag to finish cleaning them. I left the finished mosaic sphere for two days to dry properly before putting it outside.
So while we’re in the garden, lets think about honey. September is HONEY MONTH, which celebrates and promotes everything to do with honey. Beginning with honey bees, pollen and beekeepers an amazing, sticky sweet product emerges.
Think about suitable bee habits this month and enjoy eating honey.