Birds & Blooms

Bowling Ball Bumblebee

Add some color to your garden with this painted bowling ball bumblebee.

One of our creative readers, Joyce Kline gave us the idea of painting old bowling balls to look like ladybugs for the garden, so we decided to give it a try. In our January/February issue, we showed you a simple project that you do to add some color to your backyard. As a web bonus, we're going one step further to show our bumblebee. We had a blast doing it and hope you do too!

SUPPLIES LIST:

Bowling Ball

Silicone caulk

101" #6 copper wire. Have it cut at the hardware store at these lengths:

  1. Two—8.5" lengths for antenna
  2. Two—20" lengths for top wing
  3. Two—22" lengths for bottom wing

Window Screen: Two—8.5" squares

Hardware cloth: Two—9.5" squares

Two—1" round wooden beads

Kilz exterior primer

Yellow exterior latex paint

Black exterior latex paint

26 gauge bare copper wire (approx. 60-70" for each wing)

Brush or sponge

Wire cutter

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Prime the bowling ball. Let dry. Paint the bowling ball with yellow paint. (We applied two coats).
  2. Bend the 8.5" lengths of wire slightly to make antennae. Paint the two beads black (we used a thin wash coat of paint).
  3. Squirt a little dab of caulk into each bead hole. Push one bead onto end of antenna. Repeat for the next antenna.
  4. Bend the 20" lengths into an oval shape for the bottom set of wings. Bend down about 1-1/2" at the ends. (This will be inserted into the finger holes on the ball.)
  5. Bend the 22" lengths into an oval shape for the top set of wings. Bend down about 1-1/2" at the ends to place in the fingerholes.
  6. Center 20" wire ovals over the window screen material and "sew" the thin copper wire to the wire to attach screening. Trim around the edges after sewing. We found it was easier "sewing" from the underside of the wing.
    7. ball
  7. Center 22" wire ovals over hardware cloth and "sew" with thin copper wire too attach to the cloth. Trim to 1/4" past the edge and bend hardware cloth edges around copper wire.
  8. Apply painters tape to the ball where desired and paint or sponge black stripes on the ball. Let dry.
  9. Squirt caulk into finger holes to attach antenna and wings. Let dry for 24 hours. Touch up areas on finger holes.