Make sure to wash the ball with soap and water to get all the oils off, then it's good to do a little lite sanding for the paint to hold on better. Make sure to give your paint 24 hours at least to dry before you start adhereing pennies. I think you would be wise to swish your pennies around in soapy water too. good luck and post a pic for us!

Nicethyme, do I NEED to paint the ball? The one I have is copper colored already, so I hadn't planned to paint it at all. However, i will if necessary, as the ball will be displayed outside during the summer.

Thanx
Laurel

Yep, my question also. Paint??

If you're fine with the present color, then no reason to paint. with ungrouted pennies, the base color will show. I just assume that was your plan as I've never seen anyone grout them.

Now the only question remaining is, how likely is it that I will want to go back to bowling with my own 13# ball someday?? Last time I tried it was a joke. It's been a couple of DECADES since I was on a bowling team...

Okay, I've started it.............surprisingly fast work. This is it so far. I haven't painted it, but I did swish the pennies in soapy water first. I'm using clear silicon as an adhesive.

Please note, all Canadian pennies! I'm saving my US pennies for my GS and the gumball machine. LOL!

ladyronnie I think you can kiss that ball goodby as far as bowling with it again. :) I have several old balls but just don't seem to be motivated to mosaicing them. I love to bowl, have been league bowling for over 20 years. So many things to mosaic....so little time.

Lookin good! I'd like to try doing one.

I love it! It looks great. I doubled mine and put them at all the spaces where the ball showed through...Love the pennies..I'll trade you 600 US pennies for 600 Canadian...then I would have a Canadian penny BB.

I have done many bowling balls using coins. There are several things that work for cleaning them up. The first thing I tried was....get this...the soft drink-COKE! (Needless to say...what it does to your insides!~) I just soaked them in a little bowl and it took off the black, but it took too long. Then I went to the grocery store and bought a brass cleaner. Worked MUCH better. Took off all the black and made them incredibly shiny. I grouted the ball with copper colored grout and sealed it with a masonary sealant so they stay shiny. Got so many comments on it as it is shiny and beautiful and shows up in the garden. One lady came to my house because she could see it from a distance and had to come see what it was!

Becky

Penny, can you post a picture of your bowling ball? It sounds wonderful!
Becky, I thought about doubling, but since the ball is copper colored, I don't think it's really necessary this time.
I've actually finished applying the pennies. Now I'm just waiting for it to set, then I'll take a new pic of it. Thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciate it.

Penny, POST A PIC!

Ok, lily's about twisted my arm. My ball is a swirled shiny burgandy red, probably look good between those pennies. I probably don't have enough Canadian ones to do a whole ball, but I'll have to look. I like the looks of that! (We used to live near Buffalo NY, and vacationed every year in Ontario, so have quite a few Canadian coins around.)

Veronica

If you will spray with clear Krylon acrylic when finished it will retain the shine just fine.