Dodecahedron Juggling Balls

A second-hand store had a variety of leather scraps, and they were made into these juggling balls. I got the plans off the internet to make them.

When the pieces are all cut and colours arranged to one's satisfaction (all twelve sides, for I used six colours), I found it easiest to mark the holes on the "wrong" side and then use a sewing awl to push a hole for the needle to go through.

Upon sewing, I used a sturdy polyester thread and doubled it, sewing all the pieces together using a backstitch. Using a running stitch sew made the seams look ugly and push apart when stretched. When I had almost sewn the pieces closed—the last bit was quite fiddly to sew from when it was turned right-way-out— I kept the last seam line rather loose to begin with and pulled it tighter as I went. Each seam corner would need all the pieces being tied together, going through the final sewing holes on each point, to keep an outside neat appearance.

Just before the finish I pushed a funnel in and packed it tight with linseed and millet. This process involved using a small, slim stick to push the mix in, as much as possible and distending the ball. This takes a while, but with some effort they became so rigid you could bounce them on a hard surface.

At the end pull out the funnel slowly, and then tighten up all the remaining stitches and tie it off. Then the ball is finished!

Items needed:

• Sharp scissors
• polyester thread
• awl
• sailmaker's needle
• sailmaker's palm or similar
• thimble

The last two are especially needed or you will have raw fingers for days.