What are Sand Spheres? A Unique, Hand-Made Objet d’Art & Plaything in One

Sand Spheres are Olander Earthworks own creation, hand-made, patterned spheres designed to be rolled over fine sand, leaving an imprint and allow creation of designs that are different every time. A relaxing way to switch off and each design a unique pattern and colour scheme making them ideal for collecting and displaying in your home.

 

 

We've proudly made our Sand Spheres and Wonderscape desktop zen gardens since 2008. Each design, such as our Swirls sand sphere, is carefully mapped out and hand-carved into a blank plaster sphere by our founder, Andrew Lonnquist.

It can take him up to 50 hours to create one design and each design is his own, inspired by science, nature and math. No computers necessary for this process, just a honed sculptural sense, a steady hand, patience and a healthy imagination!

 

Here's one of our most popular spheres, the Swirls sand sphere (on the left). On the right you can see our Petals sphere being carved. So many intricate facets!

 

 

Then, we create a silicone mold of the finished Sand Sphere. After that, our studio uses a concrete mix to cast multiples of our spheres in small batches. We use real concrete, not that lightweight stuff used for cheap garden sculptures. It really has a nice weight in the hand, adding to your sensory experience. We love experimenting with color combinations to create one of a kind sensory art pieces for our customers. Art meets therapy in a beautiful, multi-sensory way.

As well as our original Sand Spheres we also offer Sand Wonks and Sand Cones as part of our Sand Forms collection. 

 

Andrew started Olander Earthworks in 2008 at Portland Saturday Market when Sarah was pregnant with our first child. Our family has grown with our business through the years. Sarah joined Olander in late 2014. 

To find out more about us and the family business behind Sand Spheres and Wonderscapes read our Olander Earthworks About Us.