Lighted gazing ball

This is my lighted gazing ball that I lovingly refer to as my "Fairyball". It's made from a standard gazing ball that can be purchased at most garden or craft centers and an old log we fished out of a river while camping. We let it dry for a year, then drilled a hole right up through the center and ran an extension cord up through the hole to plug the strand of lights into. Colored LED lights have been the best string of lights because they do not get hot inside the glass ball and burn out. Its on a timer and glows 365 days a year down in my shade garden.

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Lura Ann Ohnick

What a smart and precious lady you are Julee S....I pray everything will turn out perfect with your health...I so love this gazing ball...thank you

on Oct 26, 2012 · Like 2
Dave Rohn

Very cool idea! And being an engineer, I will have to have to find a way to spread the lights out evenly inside the ball....

on Oct 26, 2012 · Like 4
Marg C Middletown, NY

Julee....did you try to glue the original ball? I would have given it my best shot!

on Oct 27, 2012 · Like 3
Susan S Fredericksburg, VA

Marg C- yeah . . . . Julee & I discussed that too!! That was my first thought but she
said there were a lot of small pieces!! Great minds right??? At least we both would have been willing to try it!! LOL

on Oct 27, 2012 · Like 1
Julee S Bangor, MI

Yes, Susan and I had that conversation Marg. There were far more pieces the size of a postage stamp and smaller with a lot of glass dust and tiny shards then anything else. Hopeless I'm afraid. A few years ago I had a very large Mexican jug that I carried on a plane from Arizona, carefully making sure it was safe in the overhead compartment from Tucson to Chicago. I've carried on everything from sombreros to antique clocks without any trouble from Southwest Airlines (although the eye ...»
rolling from my husband is another story!). I got the jug all the way to Union Train Station in downtown Chicago and as I pushed the final door open to the streets of the windy city I heard a sound like the crack of an egg. Alas, the jug that was hanging over my arm in a fabric bag had hit the glass of the door just right and cracked it all the way through. No worries though, I soon had it glued back together and repainted like new, but one bump from my husband as it hung drying over the concrete floor in our wood shop and it was instantly no longer a jug, but a pile of clay shards. I was able to save the string of tiny jars that hung from the larger jug and on to a new project I went!

on Oct 27, 2012 · Like 1
Bernice H Yakima, WA

Too funny Julee...sad but cute story! Dave Rohn aacckkk..that about sums my hubs up too! ha!

on Oct 27, 2012 · Like 1
TaniaC Fairfield, IL

Oh Julee S What a sad story...Such a shame... But I am glad that you saved the tiny jars that hung from it... So what did you end up making from them..????... I bet it was something really awesome just like everything else you have made so far... I love all your creations so much... You have a very Wild Imagination..JUST LOVE IT..:)♥

on Oct 27, 2012 · Like 2
Dave Rohn

Went to Hobby Lobby, hoping to find a gazing ball. They didn't have any. :( Guess I'll just have to keep an eye out.

on Oct 28, 2012 · Like 1
Dave Rohn

Julee, How 'bout just one more pic? We need to see the green ball lit up :)

on Oct 28, 2012 · Like 1
Julee S Bangor, MI

Oh dave, I have to find some new lights for the green one! It looks far too Christmasy for me. Give me a bit to play with it and I'll come up with something!

on Oct 29, 2012 · Like 3
CeeJai Stockbridge, GA

I'm actually in love with the log as much as the ball. Great idea!

on Dec 05, 2012 · Like 1
Bernice H Yakima, WA

Julee S so, did you figure something out?????

on Dec 06, 2012 · Like 0
Sondra A Janesville, WI

I love the way it sits in the logs. It looks good even without the lights. Dave, Hobby Lobby is seasonal on some things and so they will have gazing balls and supplies in the spring. I just finished making a gazing ball from a bowling ball and couldn't find a stand for it. So I will have to wait until then, too.

on Dec 28, 2012 · Like 3
Janice Huston Portage, IN

This is just beautiful! I never would have purchased a gold gazing ball, I love blue or red, but seeing it with the lights and how you have used it in the log, I'm going to keep my eye out in the Spring for a gold one. That color is the perfect 'fairyball'. So sorry you lost it, but maybe you can find another to replace it, fingers crossed. Although, the green does look good.

on Dec 28, 2012 · Like 1
Julee S Bangor, MI

Thank you Janice. I'm using a temporary green one that I had on hand that I usually set down in the foliage in my shade garden that is all one color so its not quite to my liking. I put cobalt blue LED lights in it and it changes from green to blue at night and its growing on me. I'll still keep my eyes open for a new one in the spring. Hobby Lobby usually has some nice ones. I got the one in the pic from Menards for less then $20 to replace my beautiful hand-blown one that I broke while ...»
fitting it in the log after we drilled a long hole up the center of the log for the electrical for the lights. In a way I've liked the changes even though each one has "broke" my heart as I hear it shatter into a million pieces.

on Dec 28, 2012 · Like 1
ByLightOfMoon Warne, NC

What a fabulous idea! Smiles, cyndi

on Feb 13, 2013 · Like 0
Nancy Rhodes C Bessemer, AL

Can't wait to get my blue gazing ball lighted. Would love for it to be farther out in one of my private gardens but electricity is a problem. Sometimes I feel like digging a trench all the way out there and then calling an electrician to install the elec so that I can turn it on and off from the house.

on Mar 13, 2013 · Like 1
Julee S Bangor, MI

Nancy, I've buried many outdoor extension cords that have lasted forever. Still have two that are 100' long out there.

on Mar 14, 2013 · Like 1
Lynn Mueller Sheboygan, WI

This is beautiful.

on Apr 08, 2013 · Like 1
Katrina Riggs Aurora, IN

Beautiful and peaceful!

on Apr 20, 2013 · Like 1
Nancy Rhodes C Bessemer, AL

Can't wait to bury a long extension cord.

on Apr 28, 2013 · Like 1
Lynda Reeve Great Falls, MT

I purchased solar lights for my gazing ball

on May 10, 2013 · Like 0
Carolyn Prenot Winona, MN

if you are going to bury the cord we in case it with vinyl /plastic tubing my mine is not working right now can't remember what it is called use it at Xmas too animals can't get after the wiring

on May 14, 2013 · Like 0
Bernice H Yakima, WA

Julee S HI! What's the update on the gazing ball?

on May 15, 2013 · Like 0
Barbara Hobbs

I was not aware gazing balls had a hole in them

on May 17, 2013 · Like 0