need some plant themed ideas, please

[Mark Ling]

hey guys I will soon be going to an herb fest to sell some stuff. basically, an herb fest for those of you who don't know, is where you sell plant/gardening related items and home baked food. anyways, I have come up with a few things- leaf key chains, plant hangers, gardening tools, s-hooks, and a few other items, but was wondering if ya'll have and other plant/gardening themed items that sell well at fairs, and so on. Thanks!

                                                                                                                        Littleblacksmith

[Glenn]

May want to try drying racks for herbs and spices, digging tools, trivets, potted plant stands, etc

[bigfootnampa]

Scythes might go well!  All gardeners must deal with weeds!  Smaller precision type hoes are useful too!  

[SLAG]

Japanese traditional tool makers (i.e. hand forged), produce many specialized implements for gardening. Two sources for ideas may be gleaned form, the Japan Tool catalogue which can be had from a Woodcraft store. (you have to ask for it, specifically, as it is not usually displayed at the counter). You will be surprised at the various  specialty items available for sale. There are also many beautiful. well-made  specialty gardening tools displayed in the Lee Valley tool catalogue. High quality expensive tools that are  built to last to, at least,  your grandchildren and great grandchildren's generation. The Lee Valley catalogue has specialty tools form manufacturers form all over the World. (no "Chinese" race to the bottom, flimsy garbage" there}. The targeted audience are very serious gardeners & they are usually well to do. Perfect for a blacksmith's hand wrought creations. There are, also. many similar gardening tool sellers. A google search should ferret them out.  Cheers.    SLAG.

 

 

 

 

[Frosty]

Plant themed decorations can run a huge gamut. I like vines themselves, for hangers, leaves, berries and bean pods make nice hook finials. Flowers tend to be pure decorations but can make nice bird feeders. Picture a large sun flower with small depressions to hold feed seeds or suet.

Getting back to vines they  make nice decorations on trellises gateways and fences. They can be the vehicle for all sorts of other plant thingies for the project.

Garden tools with more than decorative plant themed components is a bit more problematical but features that suggest a leaf would work nice on spades and hoes. Thorns would make good rakes and forks.

Just some thinking on the keyboard. My mind's eye travels a lot faster than I can type anymore you know.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Do not overlook the high end items like rain chains, etc. Makes the less expensive items look even more reasonable.

[gote]

I make two tools that are next to impossible to buy here. Unfortunately I have no pics today.

One is a weed tool. I start from 10mm round and point one end. This end is then made into a 50 mm long leaf shaped scraper. One side straight and sharp the other rounded both ways. The "stem" is then bent 45 degrees in the direction of the end 20mm from the "leaf". Then it is bent close to the leaf 90 degrees to the left (for a right handed person). The stem is then drawn out so a handle can be fitted. The whole contraption is 40-50 cm long. It is very good for weeding. The blade is used for poking up plants and for cutting weeds below the surface. The double bend makes it easy to move the blade as a scyte below soil surface.

The other thing is just a garden throwel. You can buy any number of these but they are too flat and small. This means that if you dig something out with them you get your knuckles down into the dirt or stone as the case may be.  I make them with a 90 degree bend up from the base of the tines and 6 cm up I bend the shaft back 60-80 degrees. They are about 25cm from the base of the tines to the end of the handle. They can be made either by forge weLding three 8x8 square pieces or by cutting a 8x25mm flat into three tines.

Mild steel is OK for both.

[Mark Ling]

Thanks do much for all of the ideas. They helped a lot. Any tips on how to display the items or any other tips on booths. Thanks again 

                                                                                         Littleblacksmith 

 

[DSW]

I have a piece of bead board plywood that I use as a wall to display items. I can screw into this plant hangers, dinner triangles, wall hooks etc for easy display. I like to have some cheap pots to put in some of the plant holders and even better this time of year, a few inexpensive plants to put in the pots. If you are lucky you can make your plant holder fit the round  plastic pots many of the plants come in. Hanging baskets to hang from plant hooks are another good idea. Keep tract of what the plant costs in case someone wants to buy the plants as well as the hangers. One cheap way to get plants is to find out what the local store does with their "dead" or wilted plants. Many times these just need some water, or they are plants that like shade that are placed in direct sun. Some places will sell these dirt cheap, and a bit of TLC can bring them back.

 

As far as a table for other items ( candle holders, bottle openers, horse shoe hearts etc) I have an old barn door that I use that adds to the feel of the booth. On that I have my book with picts of other projects ( like the grape leaf wine rack I made and sold last year) as well as my business cards so people know how to contact me. I've seen some people put a stump/ branch on their table and screw hangers to that as well. At the Grange, the spot I have is right next to an old telephone pole and I hand stuff from that as well. I also hang things from the tent frame. The idea is to get things up above the average person so they are easy to see at a distance to attract customers. Bright colors from plants help with this.

 

As far as booth tips, lots of cash to make change. I price many of my items so I don't need $1's. That way I can make change mostly with $5 and $10 bills on average. I don't usually bother with $20's because I'll get plenty of those when I sell things, or if it's early on, I can make do with $10's. Nothing worse than someone standing there wanting to buy a $5 item and you are all out of change to break a $20.

 

I also already mentioned business cards. You can get simple cards from places like Vistaprint fairly inexpensively. I had a guy pick up one of my cards last summer give me a call around Christmas looking for a bunch of forged bottle openers for presents. That sale alone covered my cards and I still made a good chunk of change from the sale. I did find for outdoor events that a bull dog clip will help keep the wind from blowing the cards all over the place.

[Mark Ling]

thanks everybody, it was a huge success. I even learned a few things!

-no one likes the horse shoe hearts that are on the table, they all want the one that Is hanging on a display stump on the table. lol

-it is nearly impossible to sell bottle openers at herb fests (I didn't even sell one)

-everyone knows someone who does blacksmithing or welding or farrier work as a living, and never thinks that it is the 13 yr. old kid who does it.

-if you have to go to the bathroom or get something to eat, do it before the day starts because you wont get any time during the day.

 

[ThomasPowers]

If you are on your own; make arrangements for a friend to come spell you so you can make a pitstop...