I need some balls and stickers

January 21, 2009 6:59 PM

My question has two parts: I need around a hundred balls that I can paint/write on. They shouldn't be too heavy, with a diameter from say two inches to the size of a billiard ball. I need to write on them, or if you can tell me how to print stickers, I'll print stickers. I've seen mcmaster.com (part number 9941K27) but they're kinda pricey. So my two questions are: 1. Where can I find such balls? 2. How can I print stickers? Thank you, pita
posted by pita to society & culture (16 comments total)

Ball Pit Balls
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:06 PM on January 21

Ball pit balls are squishy and make sounds if rubbed against each other. I don't really want such balls. Light wood? Slightly heavy plastic? Acrylic perhaps? I dunno.
posted by pita at 7:08 PM on January 21

How about these balls?
posted by kaudio at 7:08 PM on January 21

kaudio they seem like they have a thin ring around the equator? I need totally smooth balls. Sorry for all these qualifications after asking the question.

Yours truly,
pita
posted by pita at 7:09 PM on January 21

i'd agree with the ball pit, you could spray paint them with a glossy finish if you want them to take on an alternate look, just remember to primer.
posted by NGnerd at 7:14 PM on January 21

Here are a large selection of wood balls, priced depending on size. If you're willing to go a little smaller, it would be quite reasonable.

"I need totally smooth balls." And I apparently have the mind of a third grader...
posted by charmcityblues at 7:18 PM on January 21

Are ping pong balls too small? I googled and saw them online for $4/36. There are also people out there who will custom print them for you.

On preview -- not sure about your no-ring requirement, however.
posted by cgg at 7:20 PM on January 21

Any plastic balls you purchase are going to have rings in the middle of them. Think about it.

The wooden balls you pseudo-link to in your original post are listed as $7 for 2 balls, which is indeed a lot. $350 for 100 balls. Perhaps you could call and ask for a bulk discount, say, $250 for 100 balls. I don't think you'll get any balls better than the wooden ones (totally smooth and relatively inexpensive), so pay a little more and get the ones you want. And I bet some customer service rep will be willing to give you a discount if you buy in bulk.
posted by billysumday at 7:24 PM on January 21

Pingpong balls are too light. These sound ok for a 100 balls: $55. Can someone find me a cheaper set of balls? Also sticker printing?
posted by pita at 7:28 PM on January 21

What about a stress ball? Light, but squishy.

http://www.bluetrack.com/roundstressball.html

Cheap in quantity, and you could get them printed if you stuck with the same printing on each. If you wanted each one different, I'm not sure a sticker would work well on a spherical surface. You could try rub on transfers or silk screening, but I wouldn't think that would be easy.
posted by advicepig at 7:48 PM on January 21

As i said earlier: I DON'T want squishy!
posted by pita at 7:57 PM on January 21

You can find plastic balls that have been tumbled or polished to remove the split line from the mold.

Thomasnet.com is a directory of suppliers and manufacturers. Searching there for "balls" gives a lot of results (i.e. ballsupplycorp.com), but it's going to take some time on the phone to find what you need. Some suppliers aren't going to want to deal with your small order.

It'd be tough to put a flat sticker on a sphere without wrinkling it. There are services that print on curved surfaces, but I can't think of the appropriate search term for Thomasnet right now. Maybe you could contact the ping pong ball vendor in cgg's link and ask them what the process is.
posted by hydrophonic at 8:22 PM on January 21

Here's some balls: http://www.cardinalenterprises.com/full_round_balls_to_3_inch_diame.htm
posted by turgid dahlia at 9:17 PM on January 21

These look promising.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:43 PM on January 21

Is it ok if they bounce? Oriental Trading has a lot of bouncy balls.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 5:06 AM on January 22

For the printing, you could make a stencil and spay paint on them.
posted by theora55 at 9:02 AM on January 22