I think a lot of us here can identify with the rule you quoted!

I have an idea (I won't be hurt if you don't like it - my brain just likes coming up with ideas).
It isn't your ball that is silly - it is the pipe. The spinning ball is a glorious creation and deserves a majestic support. I can just picture it mounted on a very stocky column with the pole run down thru the column and sticking up enough to make the ball be able to spin. I don't know my column terminology but a slab under the column and maybe above it or some other architectural column enhancements would be interesting.

I can also imagine a supersize Merlin-theMagician type sculpture with his hand raised - spinning your ball on his finger! wheeee.
Laura

Linnea --- How can you possibly sound down about something that wonderful!!? I don't know what your color expectations were, but it looks pretty darn cool on my monitor! I do, however, have to agree with Laura...it definitely deserves a more artful mount. Me...I see something that looks like a tapered column with deep spiraling grooves, but then I am given to hallucinations from time to time. The form is great...do NOT give up on it! Just keep at it until you are happy. That's how great art happens...and great lives are lived.

I agree with the others...great idea but it overpowers the pole. If it were mine, (and I may try one eventually) I'd add more color to it somehow. Or add an optical illusion pattern to it so that when it spins, it would have some motion. The link is to one quick illusion that I think would work but have another one in mind too (an Escher, I think) but can't find it. Great job and very inspiring.

Hope the link takes you to the right place.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:74750}}

Very nice piece but I agree. A more substantial base with a design of motion. Not very artistic myself, something to do with flight maybe.
Paws

Not many postings make me laugh out loud but I have to admit that this one did. I read the title of the post and was intrigued. Saw the title of the link and started to grin. Opened the link and LOL.
I've still got tears in my eyes!

But I love whimsical things and think you have a winner here. A more substantial base is the answer! If you want a quick fix, plant some large shrubs around the pipe.

How about if you tied a long coloured scarf, or lots of them - of a light material - a few inches below the ball? It might visually break up the appearance of the pole, and when the wind blew it would add motion.

Just a thought.

I like it. Solstice98 had a good idea about the shrubs for a quick fix anchor until you decide on your permanent installation.

Wasn't there mention of Miss Piggy ears or something when this project got started? Flying Miss Piggy!! I like it like you have it now. It leaves more for the imagination; kinda like interpreting the shape of clouds... everybody sees something different.

I hope you do some more whimsical things like this.

Linnea-

I love your winged ball as is. Is it a reflection or are the wings sort of translucent?

Very nice. I'd love something similar here, but with the occasional "gale-force" winds we get, wings that large would send it flying off the pole or damage it some other way. Maybe a ball with wings closer to the ball itself would be in order so it would spin, but not take flight.

Applause from New Mexico on your inspired creation. I foresee winged ball sightings cropping up all over the place.

Jo

I like ALL your suggestions. And thanks for all the support!

The original sketch included a cone, I have somehow acquired a traffic cone :o-
It makes a great mold by the way, I tried one first without a hole
for the pipe, leaving a couple of inches for it to fall to facilitate de-molding.
It's just flexible enough that the sides have the merest bulge, cool!

I was going to cast a few other parts for top and bottom
and stack them all around the pipe. I may still do this, if I can reconcile
myself to the ball itself. It's so... unrelated somehow.
Like a parabolic arch, same feeling, don't like 'em.
For now, the base seemed logistically overkill for something I'm not crazy about,
getting it up there would be a lot harder, we tipped it up into the hole
three people lifting the ball, one guiding the pole and keeping point in socket.

Next, I was going to tackle the 50" ball (yep, got one) to maybe place at
the base, suggesting that the winged one is a juvenile form?

Fleur, that's very trippy! Never saw that one.
More later, gotta plant bulbs now.

Linnea what is that ball made of? Is it tufa?

Clairdo, here's a link to description of the process.
I've never worked in tufa yet.

Today (gorgeous!) the wind veered up to 15 mph. At 15 the ball turns, slowly.
It kept popping into view, framed by trees, waving at us.

Jo, that's the picture, the wings are concrete like the rest.
There is no way down for this thing, besides falling completely apart,
the suspension point is at the top.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ball process 2

Sweetie, your winged ball ain't ugly. It's merely unfinished!

I'm so glad you posted these pics, I've been wondering what happened to the Piglet ball. :-)

Perhaps you could add some 3D ridges & patterns to the ball ala jeweled Easter eggs (what ARE those eggs called?)

Or add colorful, shiny strands to the ends of the ears. Can't you just see the strands lifting in the breeze?

While I can't quite envision the layout of your garden, I originally thought the ball would be lots closer to the ground. The higher it is, the more massive & ornate your base has to be to complement the ball.

Oh, oh! What if you made thin "walls" projecting out from the pole like spokes? Each wall could be wavy from top to bottom. It could add interest without being majorly heavy. You could paint scenes on them, or have swiss cheese holes, or add niches for wee plants, or cement mirrors to catch the sun.

Gee, I like that one so much that you have to make me a ball and I have to go fill in the pool to make room for it! lol

You have a super creation. Can't wait to see the final outcome!

ahhh, a blustery day, tis a very fine thing indeed. I've enjoyed the progress of your project and all the inspiration it creates. What a lovely view!
Smiles!
Annie

Linnea --- How can you possibly sound down about something that wonderful!!? I don't know what your color expectations were, but it looks pretty darn cool on my monitor! I do, however, have to agree with Laura...it definitely deserves a more artful mount. Me...I see something that looks like a tapered column with deep spiraling grooves, but then I am given to hallucinations from time to time. The form is great...do NOT give up on it! Just keep at it until you are happy. That's how great art happens...and great lives are lived.

Tango, I got it, I got it! Thanks for the vote of confidence!

There IS a sort of complimentary shape germinating, inspired by
one of my favorite sculptures, it's a globe emerging from a sort of calyx.
Possibly it moves (opens and closes). I have a picture of it I saved,
but can't for the life of me find it again on google where I found it,
so I can't post a link and I guess posting it otherwise is the big taboo.
That one is bronze (BIG) and I wouldn't try to copy it, but something
about the shape. After a solid four days working in the gardens again
I've decided the thing is of a plant nature, maybe a seed.
So, some kind of husk or calyx. I'm thinking about it, ok?
(planting over 1000 bulbs)
I think it could be done without taking this back down.

Rockyn, do you mean those voyeur sugar eggs with a window at one end and a little
theatrical scene inside? Love those, since I was a kid, they were really good then!
Back in the eighteenfifties.

Thanks for the encouraging remarks, everybody!

Well I really love your ball. I think the whole idea is very cool. I agree though that the base needs to be a bit grander to match up with it, I'd love to see you work on a bigger base with some sort of movement illusion perhaps.
cindy

I think your winged ball is awfully cute - in a good, whimsical way.

LOL, I love those sugar eggs. the fantasies one can have while peeking in on wee wabbits.

But, what I was envisioning was the illustrious Faberge Eggs with all their glorious rubies, gold and pearls -Oh my! I guess I just think of the ball in bright, metallic, iridescent, opaline colors.

Now, that idea of the ball emerging from another shape is intriguing indeed...

Ohhhh, what about a huge set of jaws gently gripping the ball? You'd only see about 2/3 and the rest of the beastie is underground (and left to the viewer's imagination!)

Or a giant child's hand. Or a bird bath for a Roc. Or a golf tee (lol, just kidding)

This is so much fun, you have to do another one!

Rockyn! the jaws gave me a giggle, of course they can't grip it,
then it can't spin, silly thang! You Austin folks!

I LIKE the golf tee, a monument to Alzheimer's (I'm convinced golf is
related to Alzheimer's, something about those powder blue plaid slacks..)

I could have a giant snake coming up the hill (another web pic. I can't post, rats!)
This is all so...primeval, you're pretty convincing.
A dear friend suggested the ball lacks my usual (off) sense of humor.

Have you heard of Niki de Saint-Phalle?
She was finally comissioned to cover a Tuscan hill with giant concrete,
mosaic covered interpretations of the major arcana, it's called "The Tarot Garden"
She lived in one of them.
Faberge it ain't, but worth checking out!

Here is a link that might be useful: Follow the arrows

Linnea-

I followed the arrows. What an amazing imagination this artist has! I liked the rocket ship, then I realized that there was a well-endowed female form next to it. That would be a great place to visit. I wonder what the resale values would be?

heh.

Wow, some very interesting art work there.
Cindy

Linnea, thank you for the fascinating site. I always feel encouraged by these unique lifetime projects. When I have an idea that seems too weird to be practical it just means I am not aware of what is going on in the world ! Lots of people dream big and follow it up with production. I am never going to mosaic a mountainside but it sure brings into perspective my thoughts for mosaicing one of my fake rocks.... makes it sound downright do-able!
Laura

MMW, the "well-endowed female form" was her house.
She made innumerable versions of her, she called them Nanas.

The rest of the site is well made and has all the information you could want,
just click on "home"

KK, that Niki is one incredible lady. LOL, the bosomy females keep reminding me of the overblown Viking costume I made for a friend out of papier mache and joint compound. Her sons got over being embarrassed and asked her to carry their overflow of candy in her breastplate! LOL

Back to the lovely winged ball...methinks some mirrors mosaic'd on the ball would be every so cool.

And, monster lips wouldn't stop the spinning, cause they'd just be trying to sneak up on it. :-)

LOL, what if you made a collar just under the ball that had outreaching arms (the whole thing would spin independently of Piglet) the arms could carry hanging plant baskets or have wings of their own or hold streamers to catch the breeze (why yes, I do like the streamers idea...)

In the same thought process, a collared see-saw that dips up and down with the wind. Maybe each side would have a diefferent ball trapped in a cage and it travels as gravity changes. Twould look sorta like a "Wheelo" toy from the 60s.

Girl, your garden will rival that of Nana Niki.

I think that's brilliant! I love things in the garden that spin and move, it's like seeing the wind!

I think something to support a vine would be nice, just adding wire or something to your pole to hold a vine.

Great!

Jean