How It All Started

My wife came home last night with a bag full of stuff from Hobby Lobby. She sat it down in front of me and said "I have a task for you."

"What kind of task?" I asked?

She dumped the contents of her Hobby Lobby bags out on the couch, and they were full of Styrofoam spheres of different diameters. (As a teacher of Jr. High students, I have learned to call them spheres instead of balls.)

I kind of got a little bit excited! It's been a long time since I've made a model of the solar system! But, alas! A solar system model is not what she wanted.

A Giant String Of Pearls!

Our 2 year old daughter just loves doing pageants! She's not yet old enough to understand the drama or politics involved in the whole process or to even care whether she wins or not. She just loves getting up on the stage and entertaining the judges. And, she does a pretty good job of it. Perhaps I am a little bit biased, but she is super adorable!

Anyway, my wife has scheduled a photo shoot with a pageant photographer for next weekend, and her task was to take all of those Styrofoam spheres and turn them into a string of pearls. I was pretty skeptical, but she quite adamant that it would work. So, I told her I'd give it my best shot. You know what they say: happy wife...

The Materials

5" diameter Styrofoam sphere (1)
4" diameter Styrofoam sphere (4)
3" diameter Styrofoam sphere (6)
2" diameter Styrofoam sphere (12)
1½" diameter Styrofoam sphere (12)
10 ft of white or clear elastic cord
straight, sturdy piece of wire

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The Process

Step 1: Poking Holes

The first thing that I did was to use the piece of wire (I used a piece of a wire hanger) poke it through the center each Styrofoam sphere. It isn't as easy as it sounds. That Styrofoam has a lot more resistance than I expected it to. DO BE CAREFUL NOT TO JAB YOUR HAND! I learned that the hard way.

I noticed that each sphere had a divot on one end and a small circle exactly opposite from it.

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I tried to use these markings as a guide to tell me where to aim the wire. When poking the hanger through the Styrofoam, it had a tendency to get hung up about half way through. I found it helpful to take the wire out and try again or to twist the wire while applying gentle pressure. I think the Styrofoam that the hanger was displacing was getting crammed into the channel and stopping it up. I also made the mistake of pushing too hard a few times. If it comes through the other end with too much force, it can blow out a pretty large chunk.

Step 2: Figuring Out How To Get That Cord Through The Sphere

I am a planner. I don't like to start a project until I've stood back and assessed all the possibilities and formulated a plan. I knew that this string of pearls should end up being symmetrical, having the same number of each size spheres on both sides, so I decided to start by putting the 5" sphere on first and centering it on the cord by pulling the two ends out to equal lengths.

Unfortunately, I found that the cord did not want to run through the holes that I had painstakingly poked. I was in the process of debated whether I needed to find a thicker wire to enlarge the holes with, when my wife grabbed the piece of hanger and pliers and started bending the end. I hate to admit that it took me a minute to figure out what her plan was. I hate to admit even more that it worked better than anything I would have come up with.

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The idea is to slightly bend the very tip of the wire just enough that it will act as a hook and pull the cord through the tunnel, but not so much that it gouges a huge piece out of the Styrofoam sphere. It took some trial and error, but we eventually found just the right amount of bend.

As you can see in the picture, I reinserted the wire and pushed it most of the way through until the hooked end was just next to the hole. Then, I kind of looped the cord around the hitch in the wire and pulled it the rest of the way through. It worked most of the time, but every once in a while, the wire would pull through without the cord attached. If that happens, completely pull the cord out and retry. Do not attempt to poke it the rest of the way through with the wire. Trust me, it doesn't work.

Step 3: Pearl Placement

As I mentioned before, I started by placing the largest sphere, the 5" diameter, on the cord, first. Then, I pulled the two ends of the string out to an even length.

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Next, I took the four 4" spheres and placed two on each side of the central pearl.

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Then, I put three of the 3" spheres on either side of those.

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I followed the 3" diameter spheres with six 2" diameter spheres on each side.

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And finally, I put six of the 1½" spheres on each side of those.

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Finally, I tied the loose ends together so that it resembled a necklace and cut off the excess cord.

The Finished Product

I have to admit: just from looking at the thing, I wasn't impressed. In person, it really just looks like a bunch of Styrofoam spheres. However, my wife assured me that it would look a lot different on camera, and that Photoshop would handle the rest. We took a few test photos, and by-gollies, she was right! You can see from the cover image closer to the top of the page that the light reflects off of the Styrofoam in just the right way to give it a pearly gloss. I'm sure that a little bit of editing will make them look like genuine giant pearls!

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Thank you for tuning in to Craft Time w/ Sustainably Yours. I hope you have enjoyed learning how to make a giant string of pearls out of some Styrofoam and some string. If you decide to give it a try for yourself, I'd love to see the end result! Just post your photos and comments in the results. I always make it a point to upvote good, relevant comments!