Pickleball art project, musical shakers a FREE 'how I did it' video! (by Pickleball ARTwear and Greedy Little Dinker)
I imagine it's only natural I would have found a literal way to tie music to pickleball (and even threw in some bling for good measure) this is the most organic fun I've had in a long time.
This is also the best way I've figured out how to make the musical pickleball Maracas I'd imagined and ...so far, they have performed perfectly and since so many people have asked about it I think it will be fun to share the process.
I do love discovering endless fun ways to decorate them so don't expect it to end here either.
IMPORTANT Tie a string through two holes and make a loop so that you can hang the pickleballs for various stages of drying.
Ways to decorate/things to try:
Acrylic paints: https://amzn.to/3AI0SV4
Metallic paints: https://amzn.to/3z1UOpQ
In order to make the decorated balls into shakers I had to have a plan for closing up the holes.
The first four I made I used acrylic paints and rhinestone rivets which can be glued in, make sure you get the right size! Also I chose larger rivets to ensure they wouldn't fall through (but not too big so that they poke out overly. (Click the link for Rhinestone Rivets to find the exact size I used) It's more time consuming but worth the effort.
Rhinestone Rivets right size https://amzn.to/3T4GBz9
Crystal stickers https://amzn.to/3yRaJYf
I did eventually find some larger stick-on rhinestones that were larger than the holes (the first ones I got were too small), so they worked also, but it was challenging to keep them stuck while doing the resin. Having said that it's do-able and a glorious result if you can stick with the challenge, and I it's think my favorite one, besides the mirror ball maybe.
Speaking of mirror balls.... talk about a lot of work but wow, is it cool. You must be VERY careful with the mirror tiles as they are sharp as they can cut you, and you must lay them down very flat or the corners will stick out on the finished shaker. But I've learned how to cut the tiles down (hopefully without cutting anything, they are sharp, but the end result is worth it).
Mirror ball tiles: https://amzn.to/3z2Q1of
Be extra careful and thoughtful with this material, it is glass and requires proper considerations.
There are a lot of choices for filler beads. If you get the rivets above they come with a backing that you can't use so I popped those in there and they give a nice swish. The best sounding/feeling filler I found however, were small metal beads, and I've shown/linked them below; beads that fit and sound nice: https://amzn.to/4dE0Ls8
Googly Eyes: https://amzn.to/4dZIkxQ
Quick note: I can't stress more highly that you need to teach yourself about resin.
I CAN NOT SHOW YOU that part.
THIS GIRL CAN however.....: Resin Tutorial 2 of 10: How to mix resin the right way (youtube.com)
This is mostly for the science as it must be: 1:1 exactly, at the right temp, mix slow but work fast etc etc....and I don't want you ruining your project because I didn't instruct you how to do resin properly. So PLEASE take some time and learn about using the product, before you decide if what I am doing is ok with you, because what I do isn't orthodox. I didn't find any tutorials on how to resin coat a pickleball maraca so If anyone knows a better way (that is not expensive) I would love to hear about it! Thanks!
Epoxy resin beginner kit, medium : https://amzn.to/3yYaKJK
If going to be doing this a lot look into gloves with chemical resistance: https://amzn.to/4cQKLlk If you need latex free there are these as options. https://amzn.to/3yRpOJj
See it in moving pictures here:
Want to see them in action? Click this link What DO you do with your tired and broken pickleballs? See Pickleball Artwear dot com for a how to! (youtube.com)
WHY do I want pickleball maracas anyhow?? Well my hubby and myself about 40 of our pickleball friends did this the other day and I only had ONE shaker. I just feel like I need a box full of them!! Plus anyone who has my pickleball sing along songbook who doesn't play an instrument can still use this shaker to sing the songs!
Things you will need:
old pickleball(s)
string
newspaper (or silicone mat https://amzn.to/3z3Qg2m )
an old banana tree or place to hang your pickleball to dry https://amzn.to/3ATjVM1
Paint and brushes (or use your hands and tools/rags)
Glue (glue gun or crazy glue are what I've used)
Rhinestone rivets or large rhinestone stickers
googly eyes, stickers, mirror tiles
Gold or silver foil
whatever floats your boat.....
gloves
silicone containers for resin
stir sticks
resin (these items can be found in the resin kit I linked)
You can at first choose smaller jars of resin for a one time project. I started that way, but then quickly needed to get the medium sized kit pictured in the post above.
Epoxy resin beginner kit, medium : https://amzn.to/3yYaKJK
(Speaking of codes the direct Amazon links are to products you will need and some you just may want.
And if you use these links I get credit for sending you, though you are not obligated to purchase them I appreciate if you do.
I hope you will at least have a look at the products, to get an idea what I used even if you don't choose them. And I do encourage shopping around since Amazon has sales all the time on many of these items.)
Comments