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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

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More ornaments

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More ornaments

#1

More ornaments

john lucas

Try to finish up some ornaments for our Club tree. We do this to raise money for a local charity. I'm way behind this year since I didn't have a shop. I've been playing with new ideas.

The one on the left was just interesting. When I was cleaning out a tool box I found these metal pieces. They must have been some kind of decoration. They had a plastic piece in the center that had a press in fitting on the backside. One was sort of satin chrome and the other was more of a darker colored satin. I thought maybe I could steel wool down one and maybe match the other. When I did I cut through to the copper. Kind of liked that and when I took it this far both kind of matched so I turned a sort of bangle and inserted the metal on both sides. Then added a chatter work button to the center. It's certainly not the best thing I've ever done but was an interesting project.

The yellow one doesn't show the sparkly glitter on the upper half very well. It's much nicer in person although I think a lot more thought and design could be put into the carving.

Re: More ornaments

#2

Joe Fleming

Re: More ornaments

Joe Fleming

John, What do you use for the loop/eye on top? I've never found a screw eye that is delicate enough. Thanks, Joe

Re: More ornaments

#3

jewery hardware from Hobby Lobby

john lucas

I have several varieties. The straight ones are about 2" long and have an eye on the end. Takes a very small drill to drill the hole. I'd have to look but it's about a #54 or #57 I think.

The other ones I like are earings for pierced ears. They come curved almost like a question mark. I straighten them out and then use the first half inch or so. They come with a little wrapped decoration and I like that so I leave it on. It falls right off so you can either leave it or get rid of it. Uses the same drill.

I simply dip it in the Thin CA and push it down in the hole. They are weak and bend easily but I haven't found anything small that isn't.

Re: More ornaments

#4

Re: More ornaments

Mark Paulley

Joe I use fishing hooks with the curve barb part cut off. Walmart has differnt sizes of eyes/ loops with long straight lenghts before it starts to curve. Drill hole like John does a dab of CA glue and done

Re: More ornaments

#5

Ornaments for charity

John K Jordan

Nice. I especially like the second one.

How does your club run the charity? Do you auction or sell individual ornaments?

Our club decorates a tree with turned ornaments and donates it to the Fantasy of Trees in Knoxville, an annual charity event for the Children's Hospital. (In 19 years they have raised over 7 million dollars, net!!)

They sell the entire tree; will have to wait and see what this one brings. I think the club made over 200 ornaments this year.

I wondered what you and others do. Could selling individual ornaments bring in more money? Getting them to the right audience would be the trick. The Fantasy of Trees had 60,000 visitors last year!!




JKJ

Re: More ornaments

#6

Re: Ornaments for charity

john lucas

A local bank has a tree decorating contest and lets us set up and sell individual ornaments. We sold about $1500 last year. I'm not sure how they handle the money end because we aren't there to do it. I'll have to ask. We set the tree up on the 1st so I'll find out.

Heading back out to the shop to turn some finials for the 5 spheres I hollowed this morning.

By the way, the wing nut on the index pin in place of the hex nut works wonderfully. I do need to rig up the quick release. I routed 192 grooves this morning and screwing and unscrewing the pin gets tedious. However when locked down the alignment seems to be dead on. I had a couple of instances where the depth wasn't dead on and had to re route those grooves. It centered perfectly on them.

Re: More ornaments

#7

The ornament  eyes I use are #3/0 .......

JamieDonaldson

...Aberdeen gold plated fish hooks, perfect size and price.

Re: More ornaments

#8

Re: Ornaments for charity

John K Jordan

Thanks. I am interested in learning more about your experience to see if we could possibly do better a different way. The Fantasy of Trees is great but I wonder if we could bring in more money for the children's hospital if we sold them individually some way. This method is painless, mostly requiring a couple of people to decorate the tree. If we do it differently finding the proper venue would be key.

Our newsletter said our count was 280 ornaments this year. If you can find out more, including how you price and a typical price, it might be useful for a comparison for next year.

For the indexer, I meant to order some of the quick release gizmos this week to test but got way behind (running a convalescent center for a friend's sick llamas!) but I hope to order them next week. I want to get several to compare.

JKJ

Re: More ornaments

#9

Re: More ornaments

John K Jordan

Joe, Although I like the smaller eyes better I found 5mm sliver, nickle plated, and brass screw eyes at a local hobby store and am satisfied with the result. They may be too big for some. JKJ


Re: More ornaments

#10

Re: More ornaments

Bob Macgregor

I bought a packet of small brass fishing swivels. By cutting them in half, each yields two eyes, which I glue into drilled holes in the tops of the ornaments (it takes a very small bit!).