Hello:

Can someone tell me a good way to spray paint a wooden ball? I have some 3 inch wooden bocce balls that I'm going to spray paint for a Stratosphere project.

I can think of drilling a hole and inserting a nail, then holding the nail while I paint to give a uniform coat. That seems like it will work fine, but do I just leave the hole?

I guess this is just like painting a multiplying billiard ball. Any advice will be appreciated very much.

Ron

I'd use a tack at each end... not just one end..

better support... smaller holes...

and then I'd leave the hole. With the pattern on the bocce balls, they'll never show.. and from just a few feet... only you will ever know.

Don't forget to place a needle to the "south pole" of your ball, or you may have a "tear of paint" formed under the ball. The paint have tendencies to slip toward the bottom of the sphere, placing a needle under help to avoid the imperfection otherwise created. The slipping paint goes on the needle and leave the surface right. Once dried, just get the needle off. It leaves just a small tiny hole not visible (and not an ugly bump of paint)

I think the best jig to make is a with a lazy susan. Attach a board to the disk put the pin in the exact center. that way you can spin the ball to get even layers. It is better to move or spin the ball then to move the spray can.

Throw the ball in the air and spray it while in mid-air. I'm kidding, but it would be fun to watch someone try it.

I've painted lots of balls, and I got the idea from looking at my first set of German wood billiard balls. They all had a tiny puncture at one spot. It was only noticable up close.

So, I got some LARGE heavy duty sewing needles (you need the sharp point to minimize the resulting hole). Now pound one into each ball with a tack hammer. Go about 1/4" deep. Try not to break the needle.

Now thread a piece of fine wire, or heavy thread through the eye, and tie it so you have a loop, maybe 1" diameter.

You will hold the needle with the ball upright to get proper paint coverage on the bottom of the ball (the side opposite the needle). Wear a latex glove, or have great aim, or learn to live with painted fingertips... You will have to hang on tightly to the needle because the ball will make everything seriously top heavy. You just don't want to drop it.

Then, turn right side up so you can spray the rest of the ball.

I make a drying rack of sorts by rigging up a horizontal wire, like a clothesline. Then with the use of "S" shaped hooks, hang the balls by the loop on the needle to the "clothesline", so they can dry.

You won't have paint drips if you control the amount of paint applied.

When you've painted as many coats as you want, and the paint has FULLY cured, remove the needles from the balls giving it a twist with a pair of pliers. make sure the paint has cured very well, because a ball has no way to sit without some part of it touching something else. Do it otherwise, and you'll end up with a mark on the ball.

The pin prick hole will be minimized by both the size of the needle (better than a nail) and also by the fact that the needle is at the top while the ball dries. Any gravity effect on the paint will not gather around the needle. It will leave a cleaner hole.

:)

~michael

FYI - Primer is a different issue. You can make a three point stand (three nails in a triangular pattern, sticking up from a small board) and perch the ball on it, spraying first one side, and then after that dries, the other. Once you have the proper primer coat, you'll want to buff it down before proceeding with the needle and color coats anyway, so any marks that may be formed by the stand will buff out. You don't want to do this same idea with the color coats for obvious reasons.

~mb

Locking pliers? Easier on the fingers.

Probably a good idea, but even though I didn't mention it, it helps me to be able to slowly spin the ball via the needle as I spray. This helps assure an even coat on that "hemisphere".

Excellent advice, everyone. Thanks a bunch - your suggestions are very helpful. Once I finish, I'll post some photos.

Ron

I always thought the german billiard balls were dipped in paint. As they always has a flat spont around the hole. It looked like they tooks a knife and sawed the dripping paint off that formed around the needle.

Geoffrey Buckingham also said to dip the balls in lacquer paint.

I'm sure this technique will work, as long as you hit on the proper consistency and drying speed of paint. I also imagine there is more to the technique than just dipping and drying. Perhaps turning pin side down as mentioned by taiga, or developing a method to spin the ball to cast off excess paint by centrifugal force?? I'm not sure.

If someone has the opportunity to experiment through all the trial and errors, I would love to hear their results. It may very well simplify the whole process.

~michael

Although true red 2" silicon balls are now available from JL, they were not when I began performing a version of the Benson routine. So, we just bought a 2" wooden ball and spray painted it red using a small nail and an alligator clip, and it worked great.

The red ball is in play for a very short period of time so there is really no need for a red silicon ball. Plus, knocking the odd red ball on the table can even work to imply that all of the balls are wood or ivory. Not that there's anything wrong with silicon...

The late Lewis Ganson or Geoffrey Buckingham, says they dipped their billiard balls in lacquer to paint them. Insert a pin, dip and stick the other end in a board with a matching hole in it. Then when dry, cut with an exacto knife around the pin close to the hole. Remove the pin and cut any remaining unevenness.