Kickball Planter

Not too long ago, the beloved Instructables kickball was popped by an overzealous dog. As we are not prone to ever throw anything away (ever), it just lamely drifted around the office as people slowly kicked it about in dissatisfaction from spot to spot. This continued for a while until one day I had the idea to resurrect this ball by cutting it in half and turn it into a hanging plant basket. And, that is precisely what I did. Follows are directions so you can do the same.

You will need:

A popped kickball
A razor blade
Scissors
A power and some drill bits
Five thin steel cables with fasteners on the ends
A metal nut (see step 4)
A metal washer
A hanging planter bracket
2 screws
A screwdriver
A stud finder
Gravel or pumice stone
Potting soil
Plant
A zip tie

Cut the kickball in half along its seam using a razor blade and/or scissors.

Drill a hole in the center of the bottom of the kickball.

Drill another 5 holes around this center hole at about and inch to and inch and a half. Make sure these five holes are large enough to let light pass through (and don't close completely back up. .

Pass your steel cables through the center hole from the outside to the inside.

Next pass these cables through your steel washer.

Lastly, pass these cables through your metal nut. The idea on the nut is that you can pass one cable at a time through if the previous ones are pulled through far enough that the fasteners are out of the way. When all of them are passed through, pull them all tight to the nut, they should all be held tightly in place.

Find the wall stud that is above your window from which you want to hang your planter (assuming you are hanging it in the window).

Mark where the screws should be installed for the basket using a pencil

Drill where you marked with a 3/32 drill bit. You should meet some resistance about halfway through when you hit the stud. If you don't, you haven't found the stud. Try again. Do not hang the basket in just drywall.

Fasten the bracket to the wall using screws.

Fill the bottom of your planter with gravel or pumice stone. A handful or two should suffice. I did this to help the water drain a little better and keep the soil from leaking out onto the floor.

Lay down a few handfuls of soil and then transfer your plant to its new home and fill in the remaining sides with more soil.

I did this as a two person job. I had my girlfriend hold the bottom of the planter while I raised and positioned the cable around the basket. When I was sure it was stable, I had her let go.

I then zip tied this to the basket and it was good to go.

If you weren't happy with just one, you can hang two!

Rather than fasten two planters to two brackets, you can drape the wires over each bracket and fasten to each other with a few zip ties.