How to Make Your Own Decorative Orbs

If you're flipping through your home decorating catalogues, you might see collections of decorative orbs sitting in baskets or small cages out on coffee tables. If you don't want to pay the prices you see in those catalogues, you can make similar orbs for your home while spending less than what it would cost you to ship your catalogue order. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

Wooden Disc

1

Cut your wooden branches into slices no thicker than a nickel.

2

Paint your Styrofoam balls a dark brown using acrylic paint.

3

Use your hot glue gun to affix each disc into place. You'll want to do one half of the ball and allow it to dry before turning it over to do the other half.

Miniature Disco Ball

4

Put a ring of metal thumbtacks around the middle of your Styrofoam ball. These thumbtacks should have a shiny, flat metal top. Your ring should look like the equator on a planet.

5

Add rings of metal thumbtacks, going up toward the top and bottom.

6

Put your last two thumbtacks in at the "north" and "south poles" of your ball.

Seashell Orb

7

Paint the Styrofoam ball with acrylic paint, in a color to match your theme. If you're looking for a beach theme, a tan, sandy color should work. For a more exotic look, try black or purple.

8

Use the hot glue gun to attach seashells on half of the ball, once the paint has dried. Check out the manufacturer's instructions to gauge the ideal waiting time.

9

Put the rest of the seashells on the other half of the orb. Then, apply a coat of clear lacquer over the entire orb, shells and all. Set aside to dry.