[meaubry]

Kim,
Funny you should ask. We are using the same material and I have successfully been able to use the technique that Dave suggested. Taped one end shut, filled with sand, tape the other end, and used a conduit bender.

Just remember to go slow, and keep the bends small - I tried staying under 22 degrees. Do not over bend them as you don't want to straighten them after bending.

Make a template to check against as you bend.

Using that technique, I was able to create bends that pretty closely follow the contour of the ball. I used something like 7 or 8 inch spacing between the bends.

The hard part was trying to keep the sequence of bends for the ones that had multiple directions.

All in all, we are happy with the way they came out.

Mike