That is so cool. Perfect for my yard. But I'd never get such a smooth finish! If I really wanted a bird in there it would be difficult to clean out. The price wows me!! I'd try making it if someone has ideas. I could always cover a ball but it's the smooth finish that makes it look so intriguing. Any ideas people??

have you thought of a diamond concrete polishing kit? the kit comes with diamond encrusted pads of varying grit from 50 - 3000. you progresively polish until a high buff finish is acheived. I bought the kit on ebay but have not tried it yet. If I ever work up the guts to try it I'll let you see.

Perhaps you could use an old basketball, making half at a time, putting the tufa on fairly thin. then when you have 2 halfs, put them together and add more tuffa to bond them and smooth them together. Drill your hole and sand smooth. I would drill somewhere where the two halves don't meet. You might need to put a plastic bag on the ball so the tufa doesn't stick to it.

Pam

Could you papercrete the original ball shape then apply a thin layer of "cement mix" and polish it. Might make it lighter and give it some degree of water proofing. The ad says it has instructions for positioning and maintenance. I'd like to see how they would clean that out at the end of the season! Just curious would it be safe for the birds if they actually tried to use it, if it was made out of any form of cement?
Carol

Why would it have to be smooth? even a 'swirly' design would be nice, but how do you get a 6 3/4" orb? not with a basketball......any other suggestions? I like the half and half theory, possibly a glass globe from a light fixture? St vinnies would have that. would that work?
marcia

Why not use one of those blow up exercise balls? Then you could just deflate it to remove and use it again for another project.

This little thing has intrigued me since it was first posted and I have been playing with a couple of ideas. I dug through my stash of items that I've collected for their promise as molds and found an old deli container that was presented to me after my hired boy had enjoyed his salad one day. It is light weight plastic that is two halves of a sphere. It has a small area on the top and on the bottom that is flattened. I cast a thin version using a papercrete type mix made of straight portland, some shredded newspaper that had been soaked and run through a food processor, and a bit of patching compound, dampened to a consistency that stuck together when pushed into my container. I put a small bottle in the center of one of the flat spots for and opening that is about 1 1/8" in diameter. I will have to work out how to stick the two pieces together and put in a hanger of some sort but it shows promise. It isn't quite as slick as I had hoped but it is pretty smooth.
I also have a large egg-shaped cooker for eggs that I purchased for 27 cents at Goodwill that is a nice shape and very slick on the outside so I am going to try to make a mold from it to try another shape.
Is anyone else playing with this one?
spiderwoman

I tried, and now it's been sitting.
I took a 'pear' shaped balloon - wraped it in a mesh type onion bag, whipped up a mix of port and sand - made the first run really soupy, and rolled the balloon around. Then second time, the mix was soft but less soupy and I added forifier to it. It has dried, is about a half inch thick, and where the balloon is tied, I haven't coated that real thick, so I hope I can get a pin thru it to pop and remove the balloon. Although I am sure it has deflated. Not sure how to get a hole for the bird yet...especially thru the onion bag...That's all the farther I got.
marcia

Hi All,
I completed my version of the "bird ball" and hung it from an arbor at my front gate. I put it up yesterday afternoon late and by this morning a male house wren is busily filling it with sticks. They use sticks as their bottom layer of the nest and get progressivly finer with the materials as they work into the actual nesting area.
I glued the two halves together with clear silicone caulk and hung it from two copper wire hangers on the top of the ball. It measures about 6" in diameter. I took a few photos of it and will happily email them to anyone who wishes to look at them or if someone would post them, I would be happy. Please don't offer to teach me to post them myself. There just is not room in my brain for that at the moment. Thanks.
spiderwoman

thanks for all who have tried. I may work on one this winter. I was thinking maybe a foam ball? And make half at a time. Or could a person make it with the half circle planters. Anyways. Thanks.
spiderwoman, I will be happy to post it for you.
You can email me at june_march14@yahoo.com

Tonight I realized that two wrens were busily delivering what looked like meal worms to the "bird ball" so I guess they like it. That means that they must have moved in and laid eggs within the first 48 hours or so of hanging it. That is approval of the design!
spiderwoman

{{gwi:68444}}

My dear son has posted the photo of the little wrens getting ready to leave the Bird Ball. It took almost no time for them to move into the papercrete ball and make a family. They are gone now and I took the ball down to see if I could clean it out and it was just too much of a chore so I ran a blade around the seam and opened it. If you try this be sure to make some way for it to open for cleaning. I enjoyed puzzling out how to make and use this design. Thanks again to "twomonths" for the original posting.