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The mirror or game ball

Material:

1 even child’s ball. The one used here has a diameter of 18 cm
Self-adhesive silver foil
1 mm thick paper
Glue
Medium sandpaper
1 piece of nylon thread
1 glass or wooden bead
Coloured sticky tapes

The mirror balls have been used for decorating dance halls and discos for over half a century. The ones in discos nowadays are generally driven with a motor or mirror a laser beam.

Despite this, the original version has not lost any of its attraction. It is difficult to make a disco ball covered with little pieces of mirror. This becomes easy if you use self-adhesive silver foil. You just need a little patience.

Sand the ball with the sandpaper until it is rough. Stick the foil to the thick paper and engrave a network of lines with a pair of paper scissors. The little squares should measure 1.5 x 1.5 cm. Use the scissors to cut strips. The squares are cut with a pair of scissors afterwards.

Start sticking the mirror squares at the centre line of the ball: take a strip which is approx. three or four squares wide, cover it with a coat of paste, cut off the squares one at a time and stick them down. Stick the squares neatly one over the other.

The closer you get to the top of the ball, the more square need to cut into trapeze shapes so that the shapes adapt to the curved shape of the ball: First of all every second square is cut into a trapeze and then every square. Before the ball is finished you attach the hanger to the spot where the pump hole is found: stick two 6 cm long strips of sticky tapes over each other is a cross. Attach the bead to the nylon thread. Thread it through the sticky tape cross with a needle.

Place the bead in the pump hole and press down some sticky tape. Now attach the last square.