A sparkleball is an

ornament An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration * Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts * Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve ...

handmade out of Christmas lights and

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular computer printer, printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a Server (computi ...

, most usually

plastic cups A plastic cup is a cup made out of plastic, commonly used as a container to hold beverages. Some are reusable while others are intended for a single use followed by recycling or disposal. Disposable plastic cups are often used for gatherings w ...

. (Sparkleballs have also been built from bottles and other vessels.) Instructions for making these illuminated spheres have been passed by word of mouth for forty or more years, but their inventor and origin are a mystery. Different methods can be used to attach the cups including soldering, cable ties,

hot glue gun Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand ** Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

, and

stapling A staple is a type of two-pronged fastener, usually metal, used for joining or binding materials together. Large staples might be used with a hammer or staple gun for masonry, roofing, corrugated boxes and other heavy-duty uses. Smaller stapl ...

with a plier stapler. One or more bulbs from a strand of lights is inserted through a hole in the cup bottoms, so each cup becomes a reflective chamber. The size and shape of the cup determine the size of the sparkleball. Distant relative of the disco ball and an American outsider craft, sparkleballs can be spotted all over the United States, particularly in campgrounds and during the holidays. The largest number of sparkleballs in one display are on th
"Sparkleball Streets"
of Fullerton CA during the holidays. Residents o
North Yale, Princeton, Union and Nutwood Avenues
hang hundreds of sparkleballs from their trees after Thanksgiving, a tradition started by Bill and Don Bales.The Sparkleball Streets of Fullerton
Sparkleball.com
/ref> Image:sparkleball.jpg, Image:lightedsparkleballs.jpg Image:classicsparkleball.jpg Image:fouramigos.jpg Image:sparkleball1.jpg Image:Truncated icosahedron sparkleball.jpg, similar to

rhombicosidodecahedron In geometry, the rhombicosidodecahedron is an Archimedean solid, one of thirteen convex isogonal nonprismatic solids constructed of two or more types of regular polygon faces. It has 20 regular triangular faces, 30 square (geometry), square face ...

References

Crafts