Abstract sphere/ball images of an unusual subject

I have been trying different subjects for my sphere / ball processing. Here is a range of differently processed images from the same original which is a close-up view. I am using the comparison slider to show the images in pairs – drag the slider to show/hide images:

Sphere/ball image 1
Sphere/ball image 2

Sphere/ball image 3
Sphere/ball image 4

Sphere/ball image 5
Sphere/ball image 6

Sphere/ball image 7
Sphere/ball image 8

And the final image:

Sphere/ball image 9

Can you guess what the subject matter is?…