sparkleballs from everywhere

 

 

Winter Park,FLORIDA

Beverly Farley's nieces, Rain and Summer, chillin' under red, white and blue sparkleballs at their friend Ron's house. See Bev's profile here. (She's our very first featured Sparkleballer.) To contact Beverly about buying one of her creations check out the To Hire page.

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Park Ridge, ILLINOIS

This sparkle-egg is another beaut from Tom. He made it out of 12 oz. Coke bottles, from which he cut off the bottoms and part of the tops. If I can get more from him about how he made it, I'll post instructions.

Recycled plastic soda bottles make up this egg-shaped sparkleball.

Park Ridge, ILLINOIS

Tom is my most trusted sparkleball advisor. His attention to detail and refinements of technique keep me on my toes.  This beauty Tom calls a Sporeball.   He emails: "The basic idea was to take a normal sparkleball and attach, to each cup, another cup, rim to rim, bottom facing outward. I figured that this would add a whole new set of angles for reflection."

 

Memphis, MISSOURI

Brandon Monroe emails: "I make sparkle balls of all kinds big ones little ones and the normal size." He also makes sparkleballs to order.

Park Ridge ILLINOIS

What a brilliant solution for those of you who want to work with colored cups but can't find the 9oz. tumber Solo-style. Tom soldered these small blue cups inside clear tumblers. I LOVE the yellow wire twists on this no-melt sparkleball.

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Plastic cups, paper clips, and one bulb. Lovely!

Barcelona, SPAIN

This photo of a "Plastic Cup Lightshade" was taken by Andrew Murray. Hooray for the first Euro sparkleball!

This is the sparkleball chandelier that photographer Clamoring made for her bathroom.

Still from a scene in NBC drama series Friday Night Lights with sparkleball displayed in character's living room.

 

 

Dillion, TEXAS

Yee-ha! It's Sparkleball starring in NBC TV drama series Friday Night Lights! (We won't mention that it's hanging in the home of a stripper character.) Thanks to eagle-eyed Tom for spotting this and sharing it. As a native Texan, Sparkleball Lady has longed to claim that the Lone Star State as the natural born home of Sparkleballs. This photo will go straight to my proof pile.

Oakdale, CALIFORNIA

Crystal Baccus emails: "I had to buy two colors because that's all the store had. So I chose to do one row red, one row green, alternating.  On the second half, make First Layer opposite color from the first half you made."

Voila! Stripes!

 

Crystal found her red and green Solo cups at Target during the holidays. Here are some otheryear-round sources for color cups.

 

 

Chinango Forks, NEW YORK

In one fell swoop JoAnn has redefined sparkleballery. No lights, just rose petals in the center and a complete rose in the bottom of each cup. Absolutely lovely. I can feel summer coming!

Port Arthur TEXAS

This is Gwen's first sparkleball! She used a string of steady blue's and a blinking string of multi's. (And it's Sparkleball Lady's first time uploading a video. Hooray!)

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Tingalpa, Brisbane AUSTRALIA

A Sparkleball Snowgentleman from Rob and Annette Cox, the first and only sparkleballers maybe in all of Australia. ( See more of Rob's beauties on the next page.) The Cox's Christmas decorations are so spectacular their front yard has been featured on local television. We're proud to think that sparkleballs have made Australian tv!

Sparkleball Snowperson instructions here.

 

 

Chicago ILLINOIS

Manola made these 1/2 Sparkleballs for her fireplace mantle. "I used 70 green LED lights in the outer ring and 100 red mini lights in the interior rings. It's absolutely beautiful in person. The cups have a crosscut texture in the middle and they really add a bit more sparkle."

(Check out Manola's Christmas Decorating blog.)

Manola found the cups on Ebay. Note the embossed crosshatch texture. (Rollover image)

"It's like Christmas heaven!" a little girl was heard to say as she danced under the 450 sparkleballs floating above North Yale Avenue. It takes 2 days and four commercial boom lifts to create this sparkly wonderland. (photo courtesy Dave Welch of Photos with Class.)

See more North Yale photos>

 

Fullerton CALIFORNIA

It's hard to convey the jaw-dropping spectacle of North Yale Avenue.

For years I've heard of a" sparkleball street", but finally this year, Kristin emailed me the exact location. I roadtripped up with my husband Steve (photographer) and dear friend Willie the Hobo, a jaded New Yorker who's never understood my love of sparkleballs. Now he does.

Truly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen-- the sparkleballs and the community spirit behind it all.

Bill, Robert, Don, Jeff (above) and Murph (not pictured) are the instigators behind North Yale.

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Avon Lake OHIO

James Gerrasch makes his no-melt sparkleballs with "green" LED lights, which we'll all be doing soon. Below check out his sparkleball made of red/green Christmas cups-- and the soon-to-be glitter-cup sparkleball.

Cups sprayed with aerosol glue, then scattered with glitter. (Note holes punched in cups for no-melt construction.)

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La Jolla CALIFORNIA

The first Solar Sparkleball is here!

Macky, Fritz, and Blythe were kind enough to invite me to their Sparkleball Party. Their mom Wendy had the brilliant idea of getting solar-powered icicle lights (25 to a pack) for the kid-friendly project.

I demonstrated how to make the first half, and they made the second half by themselves. Blythe cut the lengths of pliable coated wire that the boys twisted to attach the cups.

Macky holds the solar panel, which hangs from the sparkleball..

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Macky and Fritz work as a team attaching cups.

Sparkleball parties are fun.

 

Rialto CALIFORNIA

Nancy never met a craft she didn't like, and she does them all. But sparkleballs are a favorite. Nancy keeps it simple: uses only 50 lights in her sparkleballs-- but as you can see they're "still just as beautiful."