Disco ball planter

Add some sparkle to your schemes, like Robyn, with this glittering make

T O P T I P

Be sure to have spare shar p blades to hand for this project as a blunt craf t knife will make the polystyrene cr umble rather than cutting clean. Run your blade along the waxy edges of a candle for a shar per cut

Robyn has hung her sparkling planter in a dark corner to help brighten up the area YOU WILL NEED 20cm Styrofoam craft ball craft knife or Stanley knife with spare blades 5mm self-adhesive mirror glass mosaic tiles drill hot melt glue and glue gun 3 silver brads (paper fasteners) with pull rings silver chains for hanging silver keyring INSTRUCTIONS 1 Use your craft knife to cut the top off the Styrofoam craft ball. Your knife blade won’t be long enough to go all the way through the ball, so cut in as far as you can before cutting down from above and removing the top of the ball section by section. Hollow out a space in the centre of the ball for your plant in the same way; removing a section at a time, until you have space for your chosen plant pot. The inside of the ball will not be seen in the finished make, so it does not have to look perfect! 2 Drill three holes at equal distances around your planter, about 1cm down from the top lip. Then insert a pull ring brad into each hole and fold the brad arms out at the back to support the pull ring inside the planter. 3 Stand your ball in a small bowl so it is held upright as you work. Add your first row of mosaic mirrors, working from the top edge of the planter. The self-adhesive will hold them in place, but we recommend gluing them into position once you’re happy with the spacing, or they will fall off over time. Once the first row is complete, build up the second row below, working around the brad positions to hide as much of the polystyrene as you can. Work down the ball, building up rings around the ball at each layer. 4 Turn over your ball to work on the base. It will get harder to place the tiles evenly the closer you get to the base. Keep working in rows round the ball, adjusting the positioning to cover as much polystyrene as you can, and gluing in place once you are happy. The bottom of the ball will be a single mosaic tile. Then leave it all to dry. 5 Fasten three chains into the loops of your brads and attach the other ends onto a silver keyring to serve as a hanging loop. Insert your plant pot into the disco ball planter. Just remember to remove the plant from the hanger before you water it and allow it to drain before popping it back in.