I've been making sparkle balls for years Sold house and now making a new batch of 20ish. Problem with staples is they rust quickly if outdoors. I use a soldier gun and touch the outer edges of two cups at one point (using clothes pins temp). I make two halves of 25 cups, all into one solid piece bonded together. I then melt the holes for each light (melted plastic is far stronger than drilled holes). I install the 59 light lens and then melt 3 or 4 holes in each half where they meet. I use small clear zip ties to connect the halves. These fasteners can then be clipped if you need to change light sets. Finally I melt a hole at the center top and install a large zip lock loop to hang the fixture from a tree limb. Also, I mix clear with various colors and some multicolored sets, some that blink randomly..
This is the old school way! We used to melt them together, now we use a long industrial stapler. Never had any rust. Eventually the weather destroys them and we just make new ones. We use 100 lite stings and cram 2 in each hole for extra sparkle.
My great grandmother has one that was passed down to me, for my family. However I wanted to update it and make a new one and retire the original. Thank you for your video. I know what my Friday evening project will be!! Happy Holidays!
You can also use a screw driver to make a hole on the cup, simply heat up the screw driver tip and inserted to the bottom of the cup as she explained in the middle of each cup.
this is so pretty and the tutorial is really easy to follow! the only question i have is: what do i do if i dont have a drill? like how many millimeters wide does the hole have to be on the cups?
My guess is that you're using the more expensive cups that are more harder plastic. Those ones crack. However, the cheaper clear cups that are more malleable are the ones you need.
The bit was about 1 inch thick, I'm not sure where it was purchased. I borrowed it from my Dad, and he's had it for years. But the important thing when choosing the bit is just to make sure that it is big enough for the light to go through the cup. Thanks for watching!
What a cool idea! Are you thinking to put the light bulbs into the open end of the bottles then? Staples not work for plastic bottles, probably: maybe a dab of hot glue from one bottle to the next, or Gorilla Glue brand double-stick tape to keep bottles side by side... ? Would love to see what you come up with 👍
@@Packliter thanks! I ended up taking a screenshot and zooming in on her cups lol..i couldnt find any. Bout the wrong ones several times! Ours cracked also till we found the right ones. We got our store brand ones
Do you mean rim to rim? If so they don't fit flush. Each rim tucks under the next. So if you take 2 cups, put them side by side with one rim tucked under, then the cups should be angled into each other at the bottom. That's why when you keep adding cups, you will eventually have a circle. When using 9 oz solo cups, 12 is how many it takes side by side, rim tucked under rim to form a circle. Then a tricky thing I learned.... the ring of 12 should lay relatively flat.... However when you do the second ring of 9 this is very important..... You put them together rim under rim just like the first ring..... BUT once you get those 9 cups together, when you bring the two end cups together to close the ring.........the ring should curve upward like a bowl. Don't try to make them be a flat ring like the ring of 12. This is because the 9 ring is missing three cups... so to compensate for those missing 3, the line of 9 will curve upward. This is a very important step because if you try to make that 9 ring lay flat it is going to cause the cups to have unsightly gaps in the cups and it is also going to throw the ball off making it warped also the 4 cups that go in the top won't fit right. So remember 12 cups rim to rim, tucked under each other 1st ring. 9 cups rim to rim and up into a bowl when the ring is closed by putting the ends together. :-)
In ring one I hold the cups flush on the table and flush to the sides of each other, and only put one staple so they can flex as I add rings. I do not tuck the rims under each other. There will be gaps in rings 2 & 3. You just have to kind of spread out the 9 & 4 cup rings evenly. Once I have each half made I add extra staples anywhere 2 cups touch.
I've been making sparkle balls for years
Sold house and now making a new batch of 20ish. Problem with staples is they rust quickly if outdoors. I use a soldier gun and touch the outer edges of two cups at one point (using clothes pins temp). I make two halves of 25 cups, all into one solid piece bonded together. I then melt the holes for each light (melted plastic is far stronger than drilled holes). I install the 59 light lens and then melt 3 or 4 holes in each half where they meet. I use small clear zip ties to connect the halves. These fasteners can then be clipped if you need to change light sets. Finally I melt a hole at the center top and install a large zip lock loop to hang the fixture from a tree limb.
Also, I mix clear with various colors and some multicolored sets, some that blink randomly..
This is the old school way! We used to melt them together, now we use a long industrial stapler. Never had any rust. Eventually the weather destroys them and we just make new ones. We use 100 lite stings and cram 2 in each hole for extra sparkle.
My great grandmother has one that was passed down to me, for my family. However I wanted to update it and make a new one and retire the original. Thank you for your video. I know what my Friday evening project will be!! Happy Holidays!
Your video is well scripted and beautifully demonstrated making the process easy to follow with confidence.
I loveee! Thank you for thr tutorial!! ❤❤❤
So good
I will use it as the coming festival decorations thanks
Love it! So pretty!
Thanks! :)
wow this would look cool in a Sensory Room
You can also use a screw driver to make a hole on the cup, simply heat up the screw driver tip and inserted to the bottom of the cup as she explained in the middle of each cup.
Thank you!
I made this lamp in the mid 1970s and sold them for over $100, in todays money!!
this is so pretty and the tutorial is really easy to follow! the only question i have is: what do i do if i dont have a drill? like how many millimeters wide does the hole have to be on the cups?
Just big enough for the light bulbs to fit through
I would burn a hole in it.
My dad made a lot of these and he used a glue gun. Just heat the glue gun up and melt a hole with the tip. Insert the light.
We use the cheapest $5.00 soldering iron from Harbor Freight or where ever. Way easier than the drill.
Beautiful!!!! but what did u do with the remaining 48 lights that were hangin out after you closed the ball
I allowed them to drape down the wall leading to the plug.
If you stuff them in the middle it makes the ball brighter.
My mom made this with multicolored lights for Christmas when I was a kid. She stuffed the extra lights inside the ball. It's so pretty.
I have a idea you can take the top middle and the bottle middle off and put a pole and you made yourself a new years eve ball
Biggest problem for me was getting staples into the dang cups!!! Almost gave up several times!!
Get a long stapler from Amazon, works so much better!
Use colored blinking lights, they are far more spectacular.
What size of drill bit was used
I WOULD ADD THE BLINKING RED BULB FOR MORE DRAMA ...
Great idea!
Do you think this would be safe to put over a dining room table? It won’t overheat?
You could use battery operated lights...
not with LEDs
I will be trying this. Where I'd put it? I don't know.
I know how you feel lol. I would put also hanging on the tree. Check this out ruclips.net/video/ZevEGh2xDcI/видео.html
In the process of making one. Every cup just cracks whenever we staple them together..
My guess is that you're using the more expensive cups that are more harder plastic. Those ones crack. However, the cheaper clear cups that are more malleable are the ones you need.
How safe is this with electricity (using plugged led lights?)
We have a whole tree of them every year. Just as safe as any outdoor Christmas lights.
What size cups are you using? I think I got mine too big (18oz cups)
9oz
Would this be safe to hand outside in trees during the holiday season?
Staples will rust
@@dongallagher9390 mine have not.
I have a whole tree of them. All LED so there is no heat.
Where do you get this drill bit? What size is this?
The bit was about 1 inch thick, I'm not sure where it was purchased. I borrowed it from my Dad, and he's had it for years. But the important thing when choosing the bit is just to make sure that it is big enough for the light to go through the cup. Thanks for watching!
If u use a soldering gun it works perfect
I wonder if this can be made out of plastic drink bottles.
What a cool idea! Are you thinking to put the light bulbs into the open end of the bottles then?
Staples not work for plastic bottles, probably: maybe a dab of hot glue from one bottle to the next, or Gorilla Glue brand double-stick tape to keep bottles side by side... ?
Would love to see what you come up with 👍
what kind of bit is that on the drill
I didn't have a drill bit big enough to fit my lights through, so I ended up having to use an old Counter Sink bit. Thanks for watching!
Hi does it matter what kind of plastic cups are used.
9 oz soft plastic cups. They should flex when you squeeze them. Hard cups will not work with a stapler.
You could tell it was 6yrs ago when she starts out saying it cost $6
Cups now cost $6.98 at Walmart!
What size solo cups
9 oz
How many oz are the cups? and size of ball in inches?
9 oz cups. You can use any size, but the number of cups per ring is different. One year I tried all kinds of different cups! 9 oz is easiest.
@@sherrig2338 Thank you...And God Bless...
Anybody know what sz the cups are?
9oz
@@Packliter thanks! I ended up taking a screenshot and zooming in on her cups lol..i couldnt find any. Bout the wrong ones several times! Ours cracked also till we found the right ones. We got our store brand ones
my cups will not lay flat in order to put them together.
Same problem happened with me also
Do you mean rim to rim? If so they don't fit flush. Each rim tucks under the next. So if you take 2 cups, put them side by side with one rim tucked under, then the cups should be angled into each other at the bottom. That's why when you keep adding cups, you will eventually have a circle. When using 9 oz solo cups, 12 is how many it takes side by side, rim tucked under rim to form a circle.
Then a tricky thing I learned.... the ring of 12 should lay relatively flat.... However when you do the second ring of 9 this is very important..... You put them together rim under rim just like the first ring..... BUT once you get those 9 cups together, when you bring the two end cups together to close the ring.........the ring should curve upward like a bowl. Don't try to make them be a flat ring like the ring of 12. This is because the 9 ring is missing three cups... so to compensate for those missing 3, the line of 9 will curve upward.
This is a very important step because if you try to make that 9 ring lay flat it is going to cause the cups to have unsightly gaps in the cups and it is also going to throw the ball off making it warped also the 4 cups that go in the top won't fit right. So remember
12 cups rim to rim, tucked under each other 1st ring.
9 cups rim to rim and up into a bowl when the ring is closed by putting the ends together. :-)
@@Mongo76 thank you for relaying this well put information
In ring one I hold the cups flush on the table and flush to the sides of each other, and only put one staple so they can flex as I add rings. I do not tuck the rims under each other. There will be gaps in rings 2 & 3. You just have to kind of spread out the 9 & 4 cup rings evenly. Once I have each half made I add extra staples anywhere 2 cups touch.
I have a feeling these sparkle balls won't be too popular for a while, based on their similar appearance to the world's primary problem...
Lolol
How many cupss plzz reply???
I wonder if this can be made out of plastic drink bottles.
@@dionbellamy7278 the angled side of the cups make the round shape of the ball, so no it probably would not work.
50 9 oz cups total, each side = 12+9+4
brelient
1:10 could have done without the hand model product presentation
Beautiful!!!! but what did u do with the remaining 48 lights that were hangin out after you closed the ball
I saw a TikTok where the creator didn't drill holes and just balled up the lights into the center.
We use a 100 lite string and cram 2 lites in each hole. Or you can make a ball of lites in the middle.
Biggest problem for me was getting staples into the dang cups!!! Almost gave up several times!!