BOTTLE STOPPERS!

[Tony]

I sell at craft shows fairly regularly and they do okay for me. It's wierd though, I'll sell a dozen in a month and then not sell any for 4 months, then another dozen will. I sell mine for $25, mostly with acrylic or hybrid blanks. Plain wood ones are hard to sell for me, the more colorful they are, the faster they go. They're not practical, I'm in the camp of if you need one you're a quitter, but people like them for gifts. I've done package deals with a vendor friend of mine who sells fabric gift bags for wine bottles, people like that. Not a huge profit in them but it gets people in who then look around at my other stuff that is a bigger money-maker. I only use Niles or Stainless Steel Bottle Stopper products for mine.

 

[greenacres2]

I sell them as fast as I can make them. I did a farmers market last year in Seattle and had my booth set up with a variety of empty bottles of Scotch and some olive oil bottles. Kitchen fanatics went nuts over the olive oil stoppers, especially the Olivewood ones. My vertical Honeycomb stopper sold out within a couple of hours. Now I get a bunch of custom color orders, especially for sports team themed color combinations.

That rainbow colored one reminds me of a hot air balloon!! Nice.
earl

 

[WriteON]

Not a huge profit in them but it gets people in who then look around at my other stuff that is a bigger money-maker. I only use Niles or Stainless Steel Bottle Stopper products for mine.

Smart

 

[ccccchunt]

ccccchunt, how do you make those? They look pretty cool!

They are made out of 2" aluminum honeycomb. I cut the honeycomb into 5.5 x 5.5" sections and it fits in my HDPE molds for block casting. The aluminum is etched with Hydrochloric acid before casting.
Before putting the Honeycomb in the mold, I pour a 1/8" thick layer of Black or other contrasting color, then I push the aluminum honeycomb into the mold. When this first 1/8" layer cures, it seals the bottom of the honeycomb so I am able to keep the colors from bleeding from cell to cell. Then I mix my first color and randomly fill cells at different levels. Then I let it cure. Then rinse and repeat until every cell is full to the top. Because it's poured randomly, the pattern is different every time.

 

[WriteON]

They are made out of 2" aluminum honeycomb. I cut the honeycomb into 5.5 x 5.5" sections and it fits in my HDPE molds for block casting. The aluminum is etched with Hydrochloric acid before casting.
Before putting the Honeycomb in the mold, I pour a 1/8" thick layer of Black or other contrasting color, then I push the aluminum honeycomb into the mold. When this first 1/8" layer cures, it seals the bottom of the honeycomb so I am able to keep the colors from bleeding from cell to cell. Then I mix my first color and randomly fill cells at different levels. Then I let it cure. Then rinse and repeat until every cell is full to the top. Because it's poured randomly, the pattern is different every time.

Beautiful work... true customs.