Contributions

If you send foil to the ball, please include any information (such as hyperlinks) which you would like to have appear in your listing. If you have contributed to the ball, but your name does not appear below, please send me an email to remind me to get off my bum.

Any materials sent to the ball become the property of me (the maintainer of the ball) and may be reproduced for display on (or used for, in the case of equipment) this site at my discretion. That is really not a big deal, but it is best to be clear on such matters. If you wish not to have any materials reproduced or if you wish to supress any information (such as your name), indicate that and I will respect your wishes.

The following contributions have been made to the growth of the ball. Thank you all!

Judith Gelatt

She sent in a bunch of peppermint pattie wrappers. At least two bags worth.
May the ball live long and prosper!

Chuck Perkins

Chuck has sent foil to the ball twice! 8) The second shipment is described on its own page, and the first is described below.

He sent a box containing what must be at least a dozen bags' worth of foil wrappers. A cursory glance reveals wrappers from Hugs, Peanut Butter Cups, Peppermint Patties in Valentine's day colors (Red/Silver), gum, Klondike bars, candy bars, Andes mints, and a bunch of little chocolate balls, the foil of which is patterned to look like baseballs, footballs, and soccer balls.

He wanted to know how much a difference his contribution would make to the ball. I don't plan on doing this for every contribution, but this one was large enough that the rounding error (from measuring mass to the nearest 0.05 oz, or however digital balances round) was "reasonably" small. The results are in. The ball grew from 11.75oz to 17.25oz in weight, and from 67.2mm to 78.5mm in diameter. That amounts to an increase of 5.5oz (!), and 11.3mm in diameter.

Todd Bartelt

He sent me some foil of various types, among which is a large green M&M which will probably appear on the ball eventually. He also told me about his own ball project: ToddBall.

Anonymous Benefactor from Omaha, Nebraska

I received a padded envelope containing an impressive assortment of wrappers. Among them are orange and dark brown Peppermint Pattie wrappers which I have not seen in the store.

Alan Jackson

Another donor of cigarette foil from Canada, Alan has a 15 lb, 15 year old ball of such foil. This foil is from Dunhill cigarettes, and it is gold in color and approximately 7.5 x 16.15 cm in size. It is backed with paper which is quite difficult to remove, but Alan told me of a trick of heating it with a cigarette ligter. It's like magic, I tell ya!

Becky Carlberg and Emily and Michelle Taylor

Becky sent The ball has appeared with all three varieties of wrapper on it, but the Disney logo wrappers are not readily discerned in the photo as they are around the edge. She has stated that they will keep saving, so perhaps we will hear from them again. 8)

Alain Gauthier

The ball has received a contribution of the foil of 3 packs of Canadian cigarettes. The foil was rolled/folded to resemble the cigarettes which had come in the cardboard pack in which the contribution was sent. The Canadian equivalent of the US Surgeon General's warning is decidedly more straightforward than ours.

Alain reports that he has been working on a ball of his own, made of such foil, intermittently, for the past 20 years. He sent me a photograph (which I haven't gotten a chance to scan yet) which shows it to be similar in diameter to a Compact Disc. That's roughly twice the current diameter of the ball as of 11/7/97.

He further reports that in Canada, there isn't the array of colorful foil wrappers in use that one finds here in the US.

Annabelle

She had this to say about her contribution.

Here's a small contribution to the ball. These wrappers came from Switzerland, brought back by my sister who went for our grandmother's 90th birthday.

I love the Found Object / Mail Art qualities of the ball! I hold a special place in my heart for trash as you can see on my website: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1554/found.html. I especially loved Mao Tse-Tung's foil letter!!!.

StarDot Technologies

They have donated a WinCam.One, so I am now able to photograph the ball. The camera connects to my box via an 8 pin modular serial cable, and there are a set of programs and a library available for operating the camera within Linux. At its current size, the ball fills the frame at a distance of about 8-9 inches from the lens. This camera has no problem focusing at that distance.

Precision Weighing Balances

They have donated an Ohaus LS2000 balance to the ball, so there is now a means of weighing it. This balance is more precise than the postal scale at my old job, and it is probably more accurate, too.

Rachel Thoresen

Another admirer of the ball who contacted me via email to let me know that there was foil in the mail. She heard about the ball on NPR as she was driving back from a trip. She has sent me some foil for the ball and has indicated that she may send more periodically. 8)

People in my office (KOZ, Inc.)

The ball has received a fantastic level of support from this office. There is a clear plastic bin in the kitchen area for contributions, which I empty occasionally for sorting and addition to the ball.

Brad Steele

He has sent a packet containing 8 foil tops from yogurt containers and most of another. It also contained the foil from the neck of a wine bottle, and he had laready given me another of them in person.

Pam; A.K.A. "Perl Girl"

She purchased a few bags of kisses quite awhile ago, and eats candy very infrequently, so they got so old as to no longer be suitable to eat. She's given me a partial bag, the wrappers from which I have applied to the ball, and she has told me that she will bring the other bag some day. Pam has also accompanied me on two out of 2 Eckerd runs for specific foil.

Don Hanson & family

He has brought in a number of wrappers, including several of the "Magic" wrappers which have graced the ball. I've heard that that product has been discontinued.

Jason Votruba

Jason contributed a lot of his Easter foil candy wrappers. He is a fan, not only of the ball, but of balls in general (soccer, baseball, football, etc.). He even has a web page for balls which cites this site. He has said that he will be keeping his eyes open for more foil.

Anonymous Benefactor from Texas

This person asked to have their identity witheld, but they had the following to say.

I have just put into the mail today some foil for The Ball.
I was amused by this effort so I decided to contribute.
I have a jar in my office that frequently has foil-wrapped chocolates in it. What I sent you is most of the foil from one bag of "Nest Eggs" (chocolate eggs with Butterfinger bits in them) and one bag of Easter-colored mini Reese's PB Cups, and the wrappers from two Cadbury's caramel eggs. I couldn't get all the caramel off one of the latter, but maybe that will help stick things together.

I don't understand why people think there must be a marble or something inside. I mean, sure, there could be, but what is it that convinces them it must be so? They think it couldn't be round without a round substrate?

Mao Tse-Tung

The offering contained 6 foil wrappers, a playing card, some powdered milk, and a note describing the above. Not only is this the first contribution to actually come from somebody who I don't know, but the presentation was so wonderfully strange that I just had to scan it. 8)

A. McManus

This is the first contribution to arrive via mail. The envelope contained a kiss wrapper which will be a welcome addition to the ball.

The Research and Information Services Department at the NCSU Libraries

This is my life-partner's department. She sent out an email citing the ball project and asking for donations. She has brought home numerous wrappers from kisses and 8 wrappers from Lindt Lindor truffles.

My life-partner, her parents, and sister

We assembled for Christmas at her sister's house, and numerous foil wrappers were saved for the ball. This event has probably added more bulk to the ball than Halloween did. Additionally, they continue to accumulate wrappers for me.

People in my office (at a previous employer)

They have made various contributions of wrappers from peppermint patties, candy bars, etc. Of particular note are Eric Welch and Dani Maidman who occasionally consume (sharing with others, of course) a bag of peppermint patties. David Morton has contributed no fewer than one largish candy bar wrapper. And, of course, Dani has contributed to the project by scanning various items for inclusion in this site.

Chuck Ayers

Chuck contributed a wrapper from a Klondike bar to the ball. He then got to watch as it was added to the ball in real time.
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