Need some input

13 years ago

I recently had a yard sale and held it in the back drive/garage area where it has more shade. I had several people ask about my totems and plate flowers and if they were for sale, I chose not to sell them then.

Our local festival is this weekend, 2 blocks from my house on the town square, I'm in the Historic District. I thought about setting up there and selling a some of these and maybe a few other things. So I have some questions....

When you sell the plate flowers, do you use the spoon on the back or the bell hangers (still haven't found any)? Do you use the more expensive copper pipe or conduit painted? I've only done a few of the larger free standing totems, what do I use for the smaller ones, conduit? and do you put a fitting inside to make them stand up straight? Same with the tea cup bird feeders with bud vases? I tried them on dowel rods, but they bent in the wind.

I wish I could do some lady bugs, I love those, are they all made from bowling balls, and how do you cut them in half?

Any other things that do well at craft shows?

Thanks for your input,

DollyDee

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Comments (7)

Calamity_J
13 years ago
You could make your own ladybugs by using a plastic bowl as a mold, put oil(pam spray, or any oil) and pour some cement in it to make your ladybug shape, then paint it or mosaic it. Just buy a bag of ready mix cement and have a few bowls ready and try it out, I'm sure it would be better(last longer outside) than a bowling ball(which I have had crack in the freezing weather), you could also make some mushrooms too and paint or mosaic them up too with the batch of concrete.
dollydee
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the info calamity, def. have to try that! Does it leave an oil residue that needs to be cleaned afterwards to get the paint to stick? Or will the concrete absorb it?
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grandma_cindy
13 years ago
I'm using the spoons on the plate flowers, and setting them into a piece of PVC pipe. I havent yet but I plan to paint them green.
For small totems, I've used bud vases or beer bottles as the bottom piece, upside down, and slip that over a piece of PVC (just watch the gauge of the PVC actually will fit into your vase - made that mistake already LOL)
From what I've experienced so far, the small totems should go on stakes that are fairly short as to not be top heavy.
Clear as mud? LOL
dollydee
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm using spoons as well, I just wasn't sure about using them on the ones to sell or going with the "nicer/extra" and using bell hangers.
nonacook
13 years ago
I took a couple of things with me when I went to buy pipe, etc. Some had to have conduit, some re-bar and some PVC.
Mostly this was for the teacup feeders, and depended on what I used for the bottom piece (bud vases, bottles etc.) I have not done any totems that used any of that sort of things. I did do a couple of glass mushrooms that had bud vases on the bottom tho. We used a reciprocating saw to cut the BBs in half. I held and turned the ball (it was sitting on a concrete block) while Bill ( I miss him) did the cutting. All my plate flowers just 'hang on the wall' with plate holder wires.....
Calamity_J
13 years ago
Def wash the concrete after to get the oil slick off.
uglyoodie
13 years ago
Most lady bugs I saw were made from construction/bike helmets..one neighbor had hers 1/2 filled with concrete to weigh it