Autographed football collectors? Inflation solutions?

[FireRob]

Long story short, I got an old football that’s a real piece of junk. It’s for my PC. Not worried about resale. I just want it to look as good as it can. It’s flat as a pancake and is never going to hold air. What would you do with it?

Long Story LONG. A while back from eBay I bought a Chicago local radio advertisement flyer on thick card stock. (I’ll try to post a pic below). On the back side or front depending on opinion is an advertisement for Browns Chicken about an opportunity to win an autographed football of Mike Singletary. Says something like each restaurant location will have one a week until a certain date. Fast forward and I found one of those footballs for sale on eBay. Like I said above it’s a POS plastic fake leather almost foam like skinned football and it’s seen better days and in no way shape or form will it ever hold air. I want to display the ball and flyer together but want the ball to be somewhat football shaped.

Ideas-
1. First thought was to use expansion foam that you can find at home improvement stores to insulate walls and fill cracks etc. used this stuff a lot and it gets messy and all over everything and is impossible to control in a clean environment much less in a construction zone. Plus I have read this stuff won’t cure and expand in a sealed atmosphere. Makes sense since it stays liquid in the can but never tried something like this. But at the same time I know dam well it will cure and harden in the applicator straw you use to use the stuff so I don’t know for sure.

2. using some stuffing like you would a pillow or stuffed animal. Easy to find in any craft section of any store, truth is I already have some from another project. Could make a small hole or possibly use the air fill hole of the ball to stuff it enough to hold its shape. Have a little experience with this stuff as well and think I could make it work.

3. any other ideas beside just leave it as is or is that the best option?

I also have several other balls I might consider doing this with that no longer hold air. One autographed Terry Bradshaw that’s an official NFL ball and one Jim Harbaugh crappy “toy football” and a few game balls from my Highschool and semipro days.

[FireRob]

The ball and flyer.
Sorry the ball photos are from the eBay listing since I’m at work and not home to take pictures

[doniceage]

Why not cut it and make it a art piece. Cut the football as it looks like you got it autographed and you could put the white panel in a matte with the brochure you have. Then possibly put a few of your best cards to showcase your Mike Singletary stuff if you have anything else. As you say to me inflating it would be cool but will the foam work (not sure) so do you really want to go that route. Let us know what you come up with.

DON

[FireRob]

Don, Not a bad idea!! That could work just fine. Plus that would be easier to hang on a wall and take up less space than a display case. When I eventually get around to doing what ever it is I’ll do with it, I’ll report back.

[doniceage]

Don, Not a bad idea!! That could work just fine. Plus that would be easier to hang on a wall and take up less space than a display case. When I eventually get around to doing what ever it is I’ll do with it, I’ll report back.

Look forward to what you end result is!

Don

[jplcom]

Quite the baller ball you've got there! My brother won one personally and gave it to me years ago.

singletaryautofb.jpg

As for some ideas on displaying, here's a couple thoughts I had.

• if you are considering using an expanding foam, buy a cheapie football from a local retailer or amazon, deflate it, then foam it up. Just to see how it goes.
• cut it in half and preserve the white panel and one brown panel, then mount that in a shadow box. Though even permanently deflated, it retains more value if you don't do this.
• put together a custom shadow box where you hide half the underneath a space between the back frame and front.... kind of like this:

Looking at the shadow box from the side laying flat on a table:

top
________________________________
| auto/whitepanel/laces top |
|------------( football here )---------------| side view
|_______________________________|
bottom

so you'd basically make a football sized cutout in the middle of the shadow box, then stuff the unappealing bottom in that and display the laces, white panel, and signature from the top. Use some 1/4" ply or particle board, cover it in some cheap black auto carpet or get some faux turf from Menards/Home Depot/Lowe's. If the box is big enough, you could put some favorite pictures/cards in the 4 corners, cool name plate at the bottom. Or off-center it a bit so that you could fit the flyer to the left or right.

[FireRob]

Dang JP!!!! Nice!!! So is yours still holding air?

[BlackDiam0nd66]

That is really cool! I love seeing stuff that isn't your everyday collectible.

Why not cut it and make it a art piece. Cut the football as it looks like you got it autographed and you could put the white panel in a matte with the brochure you have. Then possibly put a few of your best cards to showcase your Mike Singletary stuff if you have anything else. As you say to me inflating it would be cool but will the foam work (not sure) so do you really want to go that route. Let us know what you come up with.

DON

This right here....I love this idea!

Please keep us up to date with whatever you decide to do and a picture of your completed idea!