I was thinking the same thing.  I've got some needles with eyes, and the needles are about 4 inches long.  I think they were intended for making soft sculptures or stuffed dolls and such.  I use them for pin brakes on my roller pillows.

Arlene,

I am also intrigued by the lace balls , as I have made quite a few needle lace ornaments worked over glass or clear plastic balls.  

I looked at the instructions online and am now wondering, since you said wedging was not enough to keep the ball from rolling, if one could put some  very long pins (hat pins or very fine lace knitting needles? ) through the ball and into the pillow.  It would not damage the working area of the pillow and a few extra holes in the styrofoam should not affect the working of the lace.

Soie ovale is a floss silk and I expect it will be added to or with the cotton thread as the worker pair in the flower petals to fill them out. Think of blonde lace where the petals with added floss silk worker pair really stand out against a delicate background. 

When I took a Cluny de Brioude class at IOLI in Montreal we added single bobbins of soie ovale for petal tallies but I can't remember at the moment how we did this - I'll try and find my notes.