Thanks for your compliments! yes, I use wallpaper cutouts. If the pieces are large, you will have to cut little "darts" in them so they lay flat. If they are prepasted, I usually just dampen them and apply. I don't paint the balls, however I do plug the finger holes, leaving the thumb hole open. I use the thumb hole to insert a pole, that is stuck into the ground. This makes it easy to apply 4-5 coats of outdoor poly. Good luck if you make them! I have never done the marble kind, but these are so easy to do and pretty to look at. I am sure I will bring mine in during the winter months. gail

Daisy - yep, it's a real one - about 14 lbs before glass, grout, etc. It's on my sister's front porch (southern exposure), under the overhang part of the porch. That should give it some protection. This will be it's first winter outdoors and I have cautioned her to cover it or, preferably, bring it in if there's prolonged freezing temps or ice/snow expected. Fortunately, she's in West TX, so that doesn't happen too often. With regard to the weight, I made it in 2 sections so it would be easy to transport 300+ miles and did the final assembly on site...v-e-r-r-y carefully placed it in position to be sure the silicone didn't slip.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I had been trying to figure out the legs for about a week but never really had time to concentrate on it. I just could not conceptualize what might work. Then it dawned on me! All I had to do was bend a little bit of the wire covered with the beads and then I could glue the bent part to the ball. It gave me a fairly decent size gluing space. When I finally figured out this very simple solution it made me feel so silly. It was so easy to do! But, I really appreciate the ideas. I had thought about drilling but wasn't at all sure how easy it was to drill a hole in that very solid ball. Has anyone tried it? Mindy

I just finished Waterloxing my Numerar counters which were first stained with Minwax oil-based stain. I tested both Minwax's gel stain and oil based on scrap pieces, but preferred the look of the oil - for some reason the gel finished wood didn't seem as dark/vivid as the oil-based. I was going for a medium walnut color (did a 50-50 mix of special walnut and provincial) and although it initially was the perfect color for me, I found it lightened up and picked up an amber hue after Waterloxing. It still looks good though :) Be advised that Waterlox gives off STRONG fumes, initially. If you are doing this after install, hopefully you can seal off the room for several hours after each coat. After I did the first coat, I went and bought a respirator... Someone here gave me a great tip to *lightly* sand with x-fine sandpaper after several coats. (just let the weight of the sanding block do the work). I then ran a tack cloth over the surface and did the last coat. This really helped with eliminating tiny dust nibs and cat hairs that inevitably find their way to the counter before it dries. Ok - so probably way more than you wanted to know and I didn't answer your question, lol.