This weekend I am going to be a vendor at one of our local Christmas Markets. If you happen to live in Calgary and want to see what I and other crafters have been making, drop by the Blessed Cardinal Newman High School at 16201 McKenzie Lake Blvd SE and browse the Christmas Market between 10AM and 3PM. All of us appreciate the support.
I normally use a few of those styrofoam wig heads for displaying hats. However, and this is a big however, they are smaller than an adult head, very easily damaged, and love to tip over unless they are perfectly balanced and/or taped (this is my preference) onto the table top. I needed a solution to all of these problems. There is a video circulating on facebook that shows a styrofoam ball wrapped in yarn with lips, crocheted and glued on, that is meant for hat display. The “head” sits on a dowel and is based on a chunk of wood. It is very cute but I anticipated a problem with the yarn sticking to the hat when someone pulls it off to try it on. Plonk, over goes the display and likely the next one to it.
A very talented crafter, Lynn, came up with a brilliant solution by placing the dowel inside an overturned clay pot through the drainage hole. She commented that the dowel was still a little unstable. My DH came up with the really great idea of cutting rounds of wood just smaller than the pot opening and sitting the dowel in that. It is really perfect blend of both ideas that works great for me!
The ball is drilled and then glued onto a dowel which is pushed through the drainage hole of the pot into the wood base but not glued so that I can dismantle the display for storage. I made three different heights so that they can be grouped closer together than the wig heads and still be visible. The styrofoam is quite slick so putting hats on and taking them off should be a breeze. The finished product was dubbed a “pothead” and has been the topic of jokes all week. I don’t have time to decorate the pots this year but have plans to get creative and sponge paint or paint flowers on them or knits or whatever. I will let you know how that works out.
This is our second sale this fall. The first was kind of a dud due to location but, you know, I always enjoy being at these sales just to meet people, so it really wasn’t a waste of time.
Have a crafty week and I will let you know next Thursday if our “potheads” worked out.