Look at this picture.
Aren't pretty balls made from cotton buds? These balls can be used to make Christmas toys and decorative table compositions in the form of exotic flowers. But more on that later.
What is needed for making balls?
We will need a ball-base. It can be a large foam ball with a diameter of 4-5 cm. If you do not have foam balls, it's okay: take a plastic quick-hardening mass based on gypsum, a ready-made mass for modeling or just plasticine. We also need PVA glue, cotton buds themselves and watercolor paints dissolved in water to a soft pastel color.
The process of making balls of cotton buds.
We cut a handful of sticks in half diagonally to make a pointed tip in the form of a feather - it is easier to stick a stick into the base ball. We begin to stick sticks evenly: first around the circumference, and then gradually fill one hemisphere and let it dry. By the way, for the fortress you need to dip the tips of the sticks into the glue first, and then stick it. Otherwise, when painting, wet and heavy sticks will fall out of the holes. When one half, studded with cotton buds, dries out and the sticks sit firmly in the ball-base, it is time to fill in the remaining empty hemisphere. You can try to do everything at once, just in this case it is difficult to hold the workpiece in your hands: the sticks are still weak and staggering.
Coloring.
Balls of cotton buds are very tactile: they lie well in the palm of your hand and it is extremely pleasant to pick them up. They look nice even in a simple, unpainted form. However, after painting, the balls look even more spectacular. For coloring, we will prepare two or three bowls with colored water. Water can be tinted with watercolors, food colors, and even brilliant green or iodine. Painting is fast and a lot of fun. We just dip our fluffy, spiky balls into the tinted water, and then set them to dry, pricked on a skewer or wooden splinter. You can leave the balls to dry on oilcloth.
It will also be possible to stain the tips of cotton buds with a brush, dipping it in liquid paint, but in this case the tone will be more saturated. We will get an interesting effect if the plastic base of your sticks is not white, and not transparent, but colored, pink, yellowish or blue. The result is such exotic flowers. Monochrome option for a round flowerpot.
Multi-colored balls in a narrow vase.
Ball Christmas tree toy on a thread. In this case, we catch the thread to one of the sticks.
Fluffy balls can be crafted with children. Such work develops fine motor skills well.
