No matter where I put this 16 lb. bowling ball, it rolled around and around until one day I decided it just had to go. This was the remaining bowling ball my son left behind when he moved out last year. The others ended up being sold for a pittance at a garage sale. But how does one get rid of a perfectly good bowling ball without feeling guilty about it? As the trend for "going green" continues to emerge, as it should, I am conscious of doing my part to keep things like old bowling balls out of landfills. There just had to be a way to turn this ball into something useful and I was determined to find it.I've been a stained glass artist for many years. Being a lover of any glass art, I'd always been interested in mosaics and had been wanting to learn that craft, so one afternoon at my glass supply shop, I had purchased a book on mosaics. The book had ideas I'd never thought of; and inside was the solution I'd been searching for...using an old bowling ball as a work of mosaic art.
The gazing ball in the photo, once my son's old bowling ball, has been given a new identity as it graces the front of our home, nestled between the bushes next to the front porch. The birds love it, in fact, one of them perched on top of it today. I had always heard that birds are attracted to shiny objects, and this supports that theory.
Ironically, now both my husband and I are searching rummage and garage sales for old bowling balls. (Now I wish I'd kept the ones my son left behind!) Yesterday we hit a half dozen yard and garage sales and collected 6 more bowling balls. We filled the holes, and the balls are now ready to be transformed. I can hardly wait to start the next one! I'm thinking all mirrors. The birds will adore it and it will sparkle like a sun in its own solar system, bringing light and beauty to its surroundings instead of adding to the overflowing landfills.
Stay tuned as we breathe new life into the six new balls...
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