Many of us remember the times when disco music ruled the dance floors. An integral element of those times was the mirror disco ball. If you remember and love this time, try making a disco ball in your apartment.
Materials and tools
- Mirror
- Glass cutter
- Ruler
- Newspapers
- Paste
Any glue suitable for attaching a mirror to a papier-mâché form will do; I suggest glue for ceiling tiles.
Technology
First you need to decide on the size of your ball. There are no restrictions here, only the amount of material used and time.
Be sure to prepare the room for working with glass. During work, small mirror shavings will definitely appear - cover the floor with newspapers, cover the interior items with suitable material.
Choose a mirror, preferably a thin one (any mirror will do, but a thin one is easier to cut). Using a glass cutter, the mirror is cut into squares measuring approximately 1 cm by 1 cm.
Cutting the mirror
- The mirror is placed on a flat, hard surface. Next, a ruler is applied to it, along which the mirror is cut into long strips (cut from the front side).
- The finished strips are divided into squares of 1 cm by 1 cm in a similar way.
- After this, the squares are carefully knocked out from the back of the mirror with a glass cutter.
Tip: When dividing the mirror into small squares, mark several squares at once, it will be faster.
Making the base (ball)
The ball will be made from.
- Preparing the paste. There are many recipes, personally I used the following. Boil 5 parts of water, pour into it ¼ part of flour diluted in one part of cold water, boil for 2 minutes.
- Inflate the balloon of the required size (it is important that the balloon itself is round).
- Cut paper (preferably newspaper) into strips.
- We begin to glue paper soaked in paste onto the dry ball (you don’t need to wet the paper too much, it will take a long time to dry). Make as many layers as possible, let the layers dry, and apply the next ones. The ball should be strong enough to hold the mirror on itself.
- After waiting for the paper to dry, pierce the inner ball and remove it.
- The base is ready.
Final stage
- We make fasteners with which the ball will be attached to the desired surface. For this purpose, you need to wrap the ball in several places with a nylon rope (imagine the ball as a globe and wrap it with rope along the meridians and the equator). All threads must be coated with glue, and at the top of the head, the threads must be collected into one bundle, which will become the fastener. Options with fastening according to the principle of Christmas tree decorations, using wire, are also possible.
- We hang the ball on the mount (so that it is convenient for you to work with it).
- We glue the ball with mirror squares using glue (I suggest glue for ceiling tiles) - we start from the “top” of the ball. Paste in horizontal rows. Try to place the mirror pieces as close to each other as possible - the amount of light reflected from the ball and appearance decorations.
We hang the ball in the place you need, spin it, shine the light on it and turn on the hits of the 80s! The disco begins!
You can make a disco ball the size you need. To do this, select a balloon made of dense rubber so that when inflated it has a round shape. Balls made of thin and soft rubber may not withstand the papier-mâché process and burst.
As a basis for the mirror ball, you can use a large plastic New Year's ball or a foam blank.
To create a reflective surface you need a thin mirror and a plastic glass cutter. It is convenient to use leftover materials saved after renovation. If they are not available, use old CDs. They are easier to work with, but they will reflect light worse.
Making a disco ball
Inflate the balloon to the desired size. Tear the newspapers into small pieces and place them in one bowl, and tear plain white paper into the second bowl. You can use the option with b/w and color newspaper. This is done so that when pasting, you can better see the alternation of layers, and the ball has a round rather than oval shape.
Cover the table with plastic wrap. Coat the ball with Vaseline or other rich cream. Lay out its surface with paper strips slightly overlapping each other, coating them with PVA glue. Apply a second layer of paper of a different color. Do 5 or 6 layers this way and leave the ball to dry.
Instead of PVA glue, you can use wallpaper glue or cook starch or flour paste.
If you plan to cover the ball with cut pieces of mirror, then make 10 more paper layers. The base will become stronger, otherwise a heavy mirror can damage it. For mirror plastic or pieces of CDs, three more layers will be enough. When the papier-mâché is completely dry, poke a hole in the balloon and pull it out.
To cut a mirror into pieces, place it on the table and use a glass cutter to cut it using a ruler, first into strips and then into small squares. Cut CDs with scissors.
To prevent the discs from cracking, heat the blades of the scissors over the fire of a candle or over a burner.
Pierce the papier-mâché ball all the way through with a large needle with thick fishing line, bringing the needle out, pierce the ball again from the pole side. Tie both ends of the fishing line at the top. This will be the mirror ball mount. Seal the hole in the papier-mâché that was left at the top through which you pulled out the balloon and inserted the needle.
Using a hot glue gun or other clear adhesive, create a mirror finish on the ball. Place the prepared material, cut into pieces, in even rows on the ball, close to each other. Start laying on top. When the product is dry, you can hang it from the ceiling and, shining a bright light on it, spin it with your hands.
Make it beautiful mirror ball for a party you can do it yourself from old CDs.
You will need
- Balloon round shape, old newspapers, PVA glue, needle, fishing line, glue brush, greasy cream, old CDs, scissors.
Instructions
Tear the newspapers into 2-3 centimeter pieces. Pour some water, add PVA glue and soak the pieces of paper.
Lubricate the ball with rich cream. Glue pieces of paper onto the ball, applying glue if necessary. Once the first layer has dried a little, apply the second layer. Repeat several times.
When the paper balloon is completely dry, pierce the balloon with a needle and remove it through the hole at the tip.
Cut the discs into small squares with scissors. Thread the line along the resulting ball.
Cover the ball with disk pieces, starting from the middle. Try not to leave empty spaces. Leave the ball to dry thoroughly.
Hang the disco ball indoors, turn off the lights and point a flashlight or beam of light at it.
Video on the topic
Sources:
- DIY mirror ball
A shiny ball, releasing thousands of light reflections, can be seen at most discos. It was invented in the seventies of the twentieth century by fans of a musical movement called “Glam rock”.
How did the mirror ball come about?
At the same time, everything “cosmic” came into fashion. Shiny fabrics from which clothes were made, sleek interiors reminiscent of spaceships, unusual hairstyles and accessories. Glam rock artists led this fashion wave, their costumes often adorned with hundreds of tiny foil sequins. During concerts under the spotlights, such clothes reflected thousands of sparks, creating a stunning effect.
The clubs where such concerts took place were also decorated in the appropriate style with a variety of mirror toys. The darkness of the hall and unexpected flashes gave the audience the feeling that they were in space.
Over time, small mirror toys were transformed into mirror disco balls. They were hung in the center of the hall, with light guns aimed at the ball with small beam scattering coefficients. The light in such guns was focused using lenses. The ball itself was spinning with the help of a small electric motor, casting bright reflections of light on the walls. Taking into account the general space theme, this effect evoked associations with the rotation of the galaxy.
Glam rock had a direct influence on the formation of the Disco style.
This invention quickly gained popularity among the public. Mirror balls decorated most clubs and discos in as soon as possible. They fully corresponded to the era of the seventies - futuristic, cosmic, dreamy.
One of the founders of glam rock is the British singer and musician David Bowie.
Romance of lighting
In the Soviet Union, many high school students made such balls from globes and parts of kaleidoscopes. Nowadays, a disco ball can be bought anywhere for little money, if, of course, there is a desire to recreate the unique light atmosphere of the seventies at home or in a club. Disco balls do not carry any payload; they are ineffective as the main source of lighting. This is just a way to diversify the surrounding space and lift the mood of yourself and your guests.
To buy a disco ball, you first need to decide on the power of the light source or light gun, and only then choose the ball itself. For small rooms, halogen lamps can be used as a light source. The diameter of the main light spot from the light source should be equal to the diameter of the mirror ball. This allows you to get the perfect amount of light highlights. You can work on matching the diameters by changing the distance between the ball and the light gun. However, it is worth considering that the source is best placed almost close to the ball. To create a more impressive effect, you can place several mirror balls in the room.
One scratch and the disc can be thrown into the trash. Or attach it as a stand for a cup of tea (can be glued to cardboard). Flash drives and file sharing services have practically replaced even usable disks. It seems like rubbish, but I don’t dare throw it away. Let's try to turn trash into very beautiful and useful thing for home celebrations, discos, parties. We will make a disco ball from disks with our own hands, especially since the work is pure pleasure, requiring neither experience nor large expenses.
CD disco ball
Tools and materials
- CDs;
- Styrofoam;
- fishing line;
- scissors;
- glue gun;
- patience and inspiration.
Step-by-step instruction
Disc selection
In addition to “needed or not needed,” the disks also need to be sorted by color, because they have different shades. Although it all depends on your idea: the ball can be plain or colored. For a ball the size of a school globe, prepare at least 50 disks. Shape of fragments. Depending on your imagination, the pieces of the disk can be regular in shape (square, rectangle) or arbitrary. A standard disk square is 2 cm x 2 cm.
Cutting discs
into small squares, for example, and put them in one container. (If you break it, it won’t be very small). It is better to take metal or kitchen scissors; office scissors can break, and with thin scissors, calluses on your fingers are guaranteed. It would be a good idea to sharpen the scissors before use. The discs are very fragile and pieces may break off at the edges. For flexibility and softening, place it in a hot water. Don't overdo it, it may lose its shape.
The basis
- Method one. Cut a ball out of a large piece of polystyrene foam (the bigger the better). Such a ball can also be bought in flower shops.
- Method two. If you are proficient in the papier-mâché technique, you can cover a regular school globe with pieces of old newspaper, after greasing it with Vaseline and covering it with cling film. Two days after drying the two layers, we get a pretty decent base ball. The cut halves can be joined with tape.
- Method three. If cutting the balloon is a shame, stick pieces of paper onto a round balloon. After the shell has dried, the ball can be easily pierced and the paper sphere can be used for its intended purpose.
- Method four. Probably the easiest way is to make a large ball of newspaper and cover it with fabric.
First, you need to make a through hole in the ball for fishing line or other thread so that you can hang the ball.
Decorating the ball
It is convenient to glue the disco ball with squares using a glue gun. You need to start from the “equator”, that is, from the middle of the ball and paste it around the circumference towards the “poles”. We glue the top part of the ball last. Here you can use non-standard pieces of material, remaining trim. If the squares are the same (cut out according to a template), you can paste them in a checkerboard pattern or offset, like a tile. We glue pieces of arbitrary shape without gaps, overlapping and overlapping the previous one so that the ends stick out in all directions (see photo).
We hang the disco ball from the chandelier (or in another convenient place), turn off the light, direct the beam at it and invite friends to the disco.
Are there any unused squares left? Update your old photo frame. Since the pieces remain non-standard, the empty spaces must be filled with an outline. Let's get three useful things - cheap and cheerful.
Another way to turn CDs into an original disco ball with your own hands without cutting them is to watch the video.
Options for large disco balls made from uncut CDs in the photo. Such balloons will be appropriate for any occasion - a wedding or New Year's Eve.
Disco is a fun, joyful and festive event for all people, not only for young people, but also for mature ones.
Many middle-aged men and women remember well the discos of their youth - invariably cheerful, noisy, with their favorite music. And, of course, absolutely indispensable for a disco under the ceiling. Many would like to return to the old days during the holidays and have fun as before. And there are many who want to show the main entertainment of their youth to the younger generation. Only the most important component - a disco ball - can now not be found in every club, and the organization ("disco of the eighties") will cost a lot for those who want to shake up the old days.
But in order to have fun with your loved ones, you don’t have to go to a club. You can arrange such a disco in your own home, in the office, and at school (of course, during non-working and non-school hours). This requires volunteer assistants and a little imagination.
In this article, those who want to bring back the past will learn how to make a disco ball with their own hands in a couple of hours from scrap materials. It's so simple that even a child can do it.
So, for this craft you will need:
1. Mirror or old CDs.
3. Glass cutter.
5. Liquid nails.
6. Newspapers.
7. Balloon.
First of all, you need to inflate the balloon (it must be round) and tie it tightly so that it does not deflate under any circumstances.
After the preparatory activities, papier-mâché is made. There are two possible options here.
First, you can prepare a paste. To do this, you need to bring water to a boil (five parts) and mix it with flour (one fourth part), diluted in one part of water. This mixture should cook for a couple of minutes and cool.
Secondly, you can do it easier and mix regular PVA glue with water.
The next step is cutting newspapers (or any other soft paper, not magazines) into strips. They need to be moistened, but not very much, in glue, then applied to the inflated ball. An important nuance - it must be completely dry.
The number of layers of paper is not limited: the more there are, the stronger the disco ball.
Next you need to wait for the papier-mâché to dry. At this stage, you can pierce the ball and pull it out, but in this case there is no need to tie it with fishing line - it should be secured to a dried frame, and even when gluing it, you must leave a hole.
After this, you need to prepare the most important element - a mirror or disk (or you can combine them). The material must be cut into small squares - no more than a square centimeter. This is done using a glass cutter. You need to be careful here - the mirror pieces are very sharp, and therefore the work surface needs to be covered with a cloth.
And the last stage is gluing the squares onto the surface of the ball and hanging it.
By constructing such a decorative element, you can prove that a good party is possible at home, and no modern light music for a disco is needed!
Disco ball- an integral part of any cool party. It will always be stylish and look very good at any occasion. In order not to spend a lot of money, we suggest making it yourself, from ordinary disks that are lying around in packs at our house.
How to make a disco ball with your own hands from disks?
All we need for a disco ball are a few CDs, a foam ball mold, glue and scissors.
1.
We take unnecessary CDs and start cutting them into small pieces. It is best to do it in a square shape. It is better to take stronger scissors, since cutting discs is not an easy task.
We try to cut out pieces of the same shape and small sizes. To make the discs cut better, they can be immersed in boiling water. Just don’t keep them there for a long time; they lowered them and immediately pulled them out.
Be careful with your hands; the cut disk can be very sharp.
2.
Take a foam ball. You can use any material, we just came across this one. Let's make a small hole in it with a skewer; it will be needed to attach the ball to the ceiling.
3. Starting from the center of the ball, glue our square pieces of the disk. You can use regular glue or a glue gun.
The ball must be completely covered with disk elements. Then you need to install the mount, and the ball will be ready!
