It took me a few weekends to build it:
Stage 1:
I stopped at Hobby Lobby (It's like Michael's but Wal-Mart sized) and found some really cool items at big discounts.
I bought a decorative ball that I'll be cutting open and I also found a few misc. items to build my Liahona. I spent $15 total, which I think is good. I'm sure I can build this for under $20.
Okay, here's a quick pic of the parts and pieces that I found at Hobby Lobby. I decided to keep it simple:
-decorative ball (original price $7.99. Marked down to $4)
-candle holder (original price $4.99. Marked down to .99)
-small wooden spindles $1.47
-medium size rosette ($1.99)
-gold leaf rub 'n buff ($3.99)
Hobby Lobby had a huge clearance sale yesterday so I was lucky to find what I did when I did. I will dremmel the ball in half and fasten the rosette to the bottom half. I'll mount some kind of hardware underneath to move the spindles around like a clock or a little rotating mechanism from those glass covered clocks that have a motor to spin a decoration around clockwise and counterclockwise. Whatever I use will be simple.
I originally planned to use a smooth disc of some kind, but this rosette reminds me of the face of a compass so what the heck. I'll use one of the small wood spindles for the top of the Liahona. As for the candle, I'll remove the glass part and use the bottom half for the stand.
I've yet to get some other misc. items but this is a good haul for one weekend. My only regret is that the ball is 4" in diameter and not 5" or 5 1/2", which is what I was hoping for, but that's ok.
Stage 2:
Ok, here's today's progress so far:
The ball of curious workmanship:
Some tools to work with:
Used a coping saw to carefully cut the ball in half:
The rosette is a little too big:
Nothing my handy coping saw and some sandpaper can't fix:
It took me about 20 minutes to cut the ball in half with the coping saw. I cut above the equator at the horizontal design. The blade of the coping saw is much thinner than the cutting disc on the dremmel plus I wanted a more precise result. Past experience with building props has taught me that a dremmel can go off course creating unwanted mistakes.
I just need to fashion a "seat" underneath the rosette so that it can sit flush and immovable when I'm done. I'd also like to install some kind of clock or gear motor underneath to move the spindle(s) randomly. So far so good.