Craft Fair Projects

[SHADOWFOX]

If you have a band saw I would build simple bandsaw boxes.. When we went on a cruise in the bahamas, I've seen some beautiful bandsaw boxes that the locals were selling and people were buying them like hotcakes.

[drumpriest]

Chris beat me to it. BANDSAW BOXES. People love them and you can make uite a few fairly quickly.

[ejs1097]

What about a simple flower-pot hanger/holder, like this:

[ATTACH]2201[/ATTACH]

The pot is kept from falling by the outwards force its weight exerts. Can't find the actual design, but the drawing is fairly close. Once you'd got a template done, you could churn them out fairly simply with a saw, drill and router. Piece of rope/stout cord through the top hole as an alternate way of hanging it.

Ray.

I have made a few of these, if you want to do them let me know and I can trace and e-mail you a full size pattern.

[bfrikken]

Bandsaw work is kinda ruled out. I have an old craftsman 10" bandsaw that has an old blade on it, that probably should be replaced...... I'm not skilled or experienced on a bandsaw at all, and just don't feel comfortable.

[Tom Miller]

I'm guessing you don't have a lathe. With a lathe and a full cutoff bin, you'd have a never-ending supply of craft fair fare.

Hmmm, now that I'm thinking round, my 12yr old and I reproduced something that he saw in some novelty store. (Doesn't require a lathe.) It's nothing more than a wood disk ~6" - 8" diameter, with two holes along a diameter line, each about 1" from center. (Looks like a giant two-hole button.)

Pass a ~48" long string through the holes, and through two "spool" shaped handles. The reason you need a spool shape is to keep the string from pinching fingers as it winds. (We just used dowels, and part of the "fun" is to try to pinch the other guys fingers. We play rough. )

It's kind of like a spinning yo-yo. Not sure why it provides the enjoyment it does, but if you're demo-ing it, it'll sell.




Regards,
Tom

[Tom Miller]

Can I go again?

Here's another re-creation of something we saw in a souvenir/novelty shop. When you roll it along the floor, the flap of the rubber feet will put a smile on the grumpiest face.


Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, Flappy Duck:






I freehanded the shape on a BS, but you could make a template and use a router.

Regards,
Tom

[SHADOWFOX]

Another thing you could do is buy a nice exotic hardwood the ones used for turning, cut a 1 1/2" square and make an O shape out of it and using a wooden clamp since this thing is going to be dangerous to hold by hand, run it over a sander to shape, you got yourself a napkin ring.

[thesleeper]

i have made many of those ducks they are easy to make and people do love them. have someone pushing one around and people become fascinated by the sounds of the ducks
frank

[Brian G]

(We just used dowels, and part of the "fun" is to try to pinch the other guys fingers. We play rough. )

It's kind of like a spinning yo-yo. Not sure why it provides the enjoyment it does, but if you're demo-ing it, it'll sell.

So, which one of you dared the other to touch the spinning yo-yo to their tongue? When I was a young boy, I "made" one of those with one of the big (and slicingly thin!) circles from my Erector set. My sister dared me. I believe my reaction was, "AAAAAAH! 'as uh 'as ime I e'er oo ah a'in!" Minimal blood, maximum effect.

[Deadhead]

I made a couple of things for a craft fair at work 2 years ago. They were my first projects, so even though material cost was low (I used S4S pine boards from Home Depot), my labor costs were high.

The benches are a basic 5-board design: 2 legs, 2 runners (sides) and a top. Made out of 1x12's, the top is stock width, the legs are ripped to be about 1.5 inches less than stock width. They are notched to receive the runners. The runners are ripped down to about 4.5 inches wide and about 1.5 inches shorter that the top. So the top extend out 3/4" from each side and each end.
I made 2 for the craft fair (it's a small company). One sold before it even made it to the table. It was 3 feet long and I charged $35. I've since sold some 4 foot long benches for $45.

The mantle picture frames were more popular. They were inspired by some frames another poster made, with a few design changes to match my skill level and tool inventory. The acrylic came from some of those simple, self standing picture holders you see for less than $1. I think I used the 4"x6" size. The top and bottom are about 3.5"x9.5". The vertical pieces are 1x material (3/4" actual thickness) and ripped to about 1.5" wide. I think one 1"x4"x8' yielded 4 frames.
I used one 1/4" dowel to attach each vertical piece to the base. One more dowel in the top of each vertical piece and a corresponding hole in the top allowed the top to sit down flush on the vertical pieces and not slide off. Grooves in the vertical pieces received the acrylic picture holder.
Materials were less than $3 per frame and I sold them for $20. Finishing was very time consuming for me (newbie). Factor in the labor and I was probably making $1 per hour. But the experience was very valuable.

[Tom Miller]

So, which one of you dared the other to touch the spinning yo-yo to their tongue? When I was a young boy, I "made" one of those with one of the big (and slicingly thin!) circles from my Erector set. My sister dared me. I believe my reaction was, "AAAAAAH! 'as uh 'as ime I e'er oo ah a'in!" Minimal blood, maximum effect.

So that's why the boy keeps telling me to stick out my tongue!

I wonder how fast those things get going. I wish I had a variable strobe...

Regards,
Tom