Hi all, I'd like to say Thank You to everyone who wrote back. I'm not real sure if I'll be getting into crafts or not mainly because I don't have any "one" particular item that I'm stuck on doing. I was doing a lot of thinking recently about some of the items my mother used to make in her spare time that sold like hot cakes, but that was 40+ years ago. She would just get an idea and make something and it seemed everyone would just love whatever it was but it never was based on any one thing. some crocheting, some embroidery, mainly some things I'd never seen before nor have I seen since. Having gone thru The Great Depression she rarely throwed anything away so she would "make" something that we had never seen before usually to spend time with us and keep us busy and our minds occupied on the rainy days. But... people would buy these things wherever she took them.I don't know that any one of them had a name or a real purpose. Usually something that looked pretty that we could do once we saw her do it and sometimes we only did them a couple of times before we went on to something else.sometimes we would give them to teachers or make a few and pass them out at a nursing home. So..... I don't really have a certain field, just a bunch of memories that would always sell. One of the things was made of junk we had picked up along the roadside.
She would pick up a bottle, maybe a liquor bottle and find another bottle that had a neck that would fit inside the liquor bottle kind of snug. She glued it in (after she washed and boiled them, of course)and painted them with something that turned into a shiny, pearly finish when dried.The colors that looked best were the blue, green and orange ones. Then she would glue small fern and/or small plastic flowers on them. They sold and sold and people would order them to match whatever room they wanted to put them in.Then there were the wreaths and ash trays made out of foil or cigarette packages Anyway........ what do you'all think? Should I try to make a couple of a few of these items and see what happens? Or do you think they'd be outdated and considered ugly? The embroidery, sewing and crocheting which she could do so fast and beautiful came with a steep price tag. The other things would usally cost very, very little and sell for about $5.00 I believe today I could make some of the items for less than $1 and sell them for at least $7 or $8. That's a fairly good markup, right? But..... where would i sell them? Mom used to sell a lot of them on consignment. She sold many thru the local bars, churches and mom and pop businesses. She would leave a dozen or so with each one of them on a Friday( which used to be pay day) and many times they would call her with special orders or ask that she bring more. in those days one could trust another not to get over on them. I haven't the slightest clue where to sell things today.Most of the things I have in mind only take
15-20 minutes to make and could bring in some pretty good money.
I had a wreck in 86' and don't get around well so since my injuries have been hurting worse I'm thinking real hard about trying to start earning from something besides the measly paycheck I get throwing newspapers. This turned out to be longer than I anticipated but I wanted to see if I could get opinions since mine is not really geared toward one specialty so.... any thought or ideas will be greatly appreciated. P.S. If the questions I posted yesterday re-appear please forgive me. I believe I may have went to the wrong place first to post this. as usual, thanks for any and all responses and have a great evening. Patricia