We have a lot of Sweet Gum trees on our street. Their spiky brown balls fall all over the front lawn... I've always collected them as a craft supply, but never really knew what to do with them. The other day I thought it would be great to use them as ping pong balls and envisioned a wooden set I could pack up to take to the park or forest...Obtaining the right kind of collapsible wood table or building one would take quite a bit of work and money, and I wanted a project that could be made easily by anyone. Then I thought, why not use cardboard? I went out to the garage and got a few empty boxes...
You will need a large cardboard box, a ping pong paddle template (I googled the term to find and print mine), a brown sharpie, and scissors. Optional items you may want to customize your set with include wood grain stamps, cont-tact paper, and washi tape.
To start, dis-assemble the cardboard box. Cut the two outer sides off, but leave the flaps attached to the box. Use a brown marker to draw a wood grain pattern on the cardboard. (I ended up making two of these sets because the first one was too small, but on the first set I used a wood grain stamp.) Use the leftover pieces of the box to trace the paddle template onto, then cut out. Draw the wood pattern on the paddles, too. If desired, add washi tape grips. Collect pokeyballs, and cut off the stems. You're ready to play the newest forest sport, pokeyball pingpong!
I used to know a fetish model who'd made a bodice out of these pokey things!
ReplyDeleteI gotta look that up!
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