Ball #104

The fifth ball and probably my last. (But never say never!) This ball was black and I painted it yellow. It is covered in a rainbow pattern with a star at the north pole and then ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) more or less to the equator and then reversing to the south pole. It was given to my pastor and his family for their garden August 2011.

Ball #103

Another of the five balls. This one was black and I covered it with purple, lavendar and clear. Also mini purple & clear and clear fish. May 2012 update - Dad bought this ball for a Rotary friend.

Ball #102

The third of five rescued balls. I painted this one navy and covered it with opaque periwinkle, and a variety of blue marine shaped marbles that came from The Christmas Tree Shop, including fish, sea horses, star fish and shells.

Ball #101

This ball was one of the five rescued by a Rotarian when his neighbor was going to throw them away. (Gasp!) It was a black and red swirl (the kind that bowling alleys have for the amateurs) and I painted it green. It is covered with a variety of translucent and opaque greens and highlighted with black-eyed susan flowers made with opaque yellow with a brown center. This ball was purchased by Dad for our uncle.

Ball #100

And now for something completely different.....

It was my intention to stop after #100, until one of Dad's Rotary friends showed up with 5 more balls for me! Here is the first one. It was black. I had some bright lime colored marbles that I bought thinking I could do a smiley face with them. I tried various patterns but it never looked quite right so I gave up. Since then I had acquired a large amount of shiny black marbles, so I decided to do lime & orange dragonflies with black filler. It ain't subtle, that's for sure!  Update - May 2012 - I donated this ball to The Rotary as a door prize for their Golf Tournament, which will be held in August.

Ball #94

This ball came from one of Dad's Rotarians in July 2010. It was black and I painted it yellow. It is decorated in concentric rows of clear with yellow cat eye and translucent cornflower blue. It was given back to the donor in thanks, since he had given me several other balls a few years ago. May 16, 2011 update: Given to a Rotarian for his neighbor, who gave me 5 balls.

Ball #90

This was a pink swirly ball found by a friend in a house she is re-habbing. I covered it with expanded flower power (flower power with concentric circles) in light, medium and dark purple. Also mini-purple, pink, clear and clear with white cat-eye. It was purchased by Dad and given to a Rotary friend.

Ball #80

Here is the next Craigslist ball. It was black and I painted it periwinkle blue. Across the top is a dragonfly made with large cobalt for the body and opaque white for the wings. On each side is a dragonfly with a white opaque body and small cobalt wings. The rest is filled in with opaque periwinkle and clear with a periwinkle cat eye. Dad bought this ball to give to one of the ladies in his Rotary Club.

Ball #66

Another Baptist ball - black and painted navy. This one was decorated in a patriotic theme with red hearts, white and cobalt stars, and alternating stripes of clear, clear with white cat eye, red, white and blue. Dad bought this one also on June 1, 2009 to give to a Rotary friend who happens to have a life-sized red, white and blue horse sculpture in her front yard. She put the ball in her front garden and I see it often!

Ball #65

Yet another Baptist ball, black and painted navy. I covered this with large and small marine mix (hooray for marble sales at Michael's!). It sold at the Rotary's May 2009 geranium sale.

Ball#64

Another Baptist ball - this time black and painted periwinkle blue. I covered this with a repeating 9 pattern of clear with periwinkle cat eye, periwinkle opaque, cobalt translucent and cobalt with cat eye in concentric circles. This ball was purchased by Dad to give to one of his Rotary friends.

Ball #58

This ball came from the Baptist Church. It was a Monsters, Inc. theme ball and had a huge eyeball on one side. I tried to incorporate it into a design but it was too creepy and weird, so I finally painted it black and covered it with butterflies, large and small peach, and assorted cat eyes of blue, yellow and green. (That was a great marble find from Walmart. The style was discontinued so they were very cheap. I wish they were still available - I utilized the various colors on several balls.) This ball sold at the Rotary Geranium Sale in May of 2009.

Ball #47

Yet another ball from the Baptist Church. This one was black and I painted it cream white. It is covered with irregular green with a white streak, clear round and oblong, clear butterflies, and clear with a green cat eye. The Rotary Club sold it during their annual geranium sale in May of 2008.

Ball #41

Here is the third ball from my friend's son. It was a very beat up aqua swirl, so I painted it hammered bronze. It is covered with clear red and red with gold iridescence in concentric circles. On the top are 3 large flowers. I was in a counting mood and recorded that this ball took approximately 530 marbles. It was sold at the Rotary Geranium Sales in May of 2008.

Ball #8

This ball came to me from another one of my father's Rotarian friends. It was black and I painted it red and decorated it with "Cupid Assorted" from Michael's. It has clear, clear with white cat eye, red, clear beach glass, and red hearts. I gave it to my step-mother, who's birthday is on Valentine's Day. Cammie is helping me photograph.

Ball #6

Well, by now, word was out that I was looking for bowling balls. This one came from my father's fellow Rotarian. It was originally black. I painted it navy blue (using Krylon fusion paint) and decorated it with sky blue marbles in an overall flower power pattern. I forgot to mention earlier that around ball #3 I found GE II in tubes. It's more expensive, but much easier on the hands. All balls from #3 on were made by turning the marbles face down and applying a small dot of adhesive on each one. They stick to the balls just as well as the old method, but there's less adhesive visible. I gave this ball to my middle sister.