Mini Texture Ball

Back during my first year of design school, I created a lot of projects that had to do with the basic elements of design, like color, line, shape, and texture.

One of my favorite projects, was creating the "texture ball." Where we basically took various items and formed/attached them around the perimeter of foam balls to create a design piece with a significant amount of "visual texture."

A few of us design graduates/bloggers recently decided to re-create this project, and of course I was super excited about the challenge! (only this time around we had a $5 budget for materials :)

My original ball was something crazy and probably wouldn't have withstood the test of time (in the hands of a toddler I think it may have lasted about 10 seconds before being destroyed!) So this time around, I decided to create something that still had a lot of visual interest but was completely "kid proof."

Here's what I can up with this time around...

The design I chose was very simple, and wallet friendly. I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out!

Since these little guys were so easy to make, I decided to put together about 8 of them. This way I could use them as decoration in my very sad and empty apothecary jars!

Click below to get my tutorial for these mini texture balls...

And...

Be sure to check out some of the other designs made by a few of my very creative friends!

1 - Numbered Street Designs 2- Design by Caley  3 - Home Vestures  4 - Sarah Dawn Designs

Mini Texture Balls

Materials Needed

Small foam balls, about 1 to 1"-1/2" in diameter

A magazine - that you have finished reading

Mod Podge - (did you know you can make your own? tutorial HERE) 

Scissors or a paper cutter/shredder

Tape

Paper plate

Step 1. First you will need to create a little stand to place your foam ball to use while your adding magazine strips and while it dries. To do this, I cut a magazine strip about 1" in width, them I rolled it up and taped the end.

Step 2. Cut small strips from magazine pages, about 1/8" to 1/4" in thickness. Then cut lengthwise so the strips are about 4" long.

Step 3. Pour a couple of tablespoons of Mod Podge onto a paper plate and dip in the magazine pieces (I would do a few at a time).

Step 4. Make sure each magazine strip is covered with Mod Podge on both sides. Pinch the magazine strip between your 2 fingers, then starting from the top, run your fingers down to pull off any excess Mod Podge. Then place strip around your foam ball.

Step 5. Continue the above step until each ball has a nice 1st coat of magazine strips...it doesn't need to be completely covered. (I found the it was easiest for me to place the ball on my little stand in-between each magazine strip, or things would get a little too messy :)

Step 6. Let each ball dry completely then add the remaining strips of magazine to cover it completely. (you can do them all at once, I just decided to wait because the balls were getting pretty sticky and hard to work with). Then let them dry again, and your done!