5 Ways to Make Christmas Dish Flowers That Sell

Christmas Dish Flowers That Sell:

Crafter’s Series: For crafters who make dish flowers and want to extend their beautiful art works into the holidays.

“Aren’t those for summer?” It was her tone of voice that made it sound more like a snide remark, than a genuine question. That was the first year I sold Christmas-themed dish flowers at a November craft show. But it also helped me see that I had some obstacles to overcome in how customers perceive dish flowers…even holiday ones.

This article addresses these issues and more. I believe that elegantly made Christmas dish flowers are appealing to buyers and should be good sellers. However, as crafters, we may need to overcome some hurdles in order to help customers learn how to use holiday dish flowers in their decorating scheme.

Seasonal mindset

Dish flowers are still a popular craft to make and sell. But most people associate them with summer and the garden.

DROP BY MY STUDIO TO SEE SOME OF MY DISH FLOWER & TOTEM DESIGNS

As fall approaches, your sales may be dropping off. Now that the seasons are changing, how can you extend your craft so it’s appealing through the holidays as well? Additionally, there are some very popular craft shows that only want their vendors to sell Christmas-oriented things.

So, then, have you ever thought of making dish flowers with Christmas plates to sell as pretty seasonal decor? Maybe you have tried making a few with holiday themes, but they haven’t done as well. If you live in a snowy state, it’s possible that customers are a little leery of them being damaged outdoors in the winter.

Read on for some practical suggestions for Christmas dish flowers that sell.

Some designs I’ve made over the years

I absolutely love making dish flowers with Winter and Christmas themes, because there’s just so much material to work with. It’s mind-boggling how much Christmas stuff is out there.

Shop your favorite local thrift stores. When it comes to tableware and household goods, there’s vintage, traditional, modern and light-hearted decor that can be readily re-purposed into simply gorgeous and whimsical holiday dish flowers. Totems, too! Totem sculptures with holiday colors or themes make unique tabletop and entry way displays. With your creativity and imagination, you can turn out some dish flower decorations that are simply irresistible.

Here are a few I’ve made (and sold) over the years:

1. Beauty and attention to detail

Your glass garden art flowers are gorgeous! It goes without saying that the ones you make for Christmas need to be equally impressive. They need to really sparkle and have some pizzazz that appeals to buyers looking for unique decor. Like I said, dish flowers already have an audience. It’s boils down to convincing the customer that these one-a-kind creations should be part of their Christmas display.

Use Fashion Pins for bling

One of the things I do to add a bit more holiday sparkle and glamour to my pieces, is to use Christmas lapel pins. I cut the sharp “pin” part off before gluing it to my dish flower. You’ll find a good selection of holiday pins at the thrift store.

2. Winter tips for Christmas dish flowers that sell

If you’re in California or Florida or some place warm, Christmas-themed dish flowers might not be as hard to sell. They’re easily “planted” in the yard or front walkway to be enjoyed by visiting family and guests.

In Alaska, the mid-west or any snowy climate, customers are afraid they’ll break if left outside over the winter. As crafters, we’ve done a good job educating our customers to bring them indoors over the winter. So what do we do now?

Like you do in summer, you may have to explain your artwork to the customer and talk about the materials you use. The following will help:

• Use sturdier, less breakable dishware on your Christmas art pieces. (ref photo examples above)
• If you use glass, make sure it’s thick and strong, not super fragile
• Use an adhesive known to withstand freezing temperatures (sub zero in some cases!) Here’s my write up on TWO excellent glue products for cold weather: See HERE
• It’s NOT the cold! Remind customers that its not the cold, but rather impact that would damage the dish flower. Hence the suggestion for display in a more sheltered area on the front porch. A safe distance from snowplows and snow blowers, and a wandering moose.

Great selling Point: If your customer already has a dish-flower and a post in the ground, all they have to do is switch flower heads seasonally! If you are selling both the summer and Christmas plate designs, here’s an great opportunity to sell TWO! All they gotta do is slip the summer one off and put the winter one in it’s place.

3. Cheerful front porch decor

Sometimes, you have to tell your customers how to use them. I always recommend Christmas dish flowers be displayed in a bucket of sand on the front porch. That way, they’re in a sheltered location. And in a place guests are sure to see and admire them!

The suggestion of a ‘sheltered location on the front porch’ puts customers more at ease. They begin to envision what you’re describing and how that would look at their front door. Another thing to mention is that dish flowers give some vertical height that’s attractive in a grouping of holiday decor.

Chances are good that they have a suitable sized planter on hand that can be filled with playground sand for stability. If they’re in a winter climate, they may already use sand as traction on their sidewalk or driveway, so it’s no extra burden to get sand.

Tips to embellish the display

• Cover the surface with a white cloth or some of the billowy, poofy snow-looking stuff
• Cover the surface with pine cones or other Christmas ornaments
• Add mini lights. Battery operated micro lights can be wrapped around the dish flower to make it more cheerful and visible at night.
• Make a hand-out of these suggestions (add your own) and give to someone purchasing a dish flower. It’s often noisy and crowded at a craft show and buyers are in a hurry. They probably won’t remember all the things you said, and will appreciate the hand out. Since they’ll want to review ideas later on, this is a great place to include your name, web site or other social media.

4. Christmas dish flowers as indoor decor

If the dish flowers you make are designed to slip over a piece of rebar, they’ll be beautiful as indoor decor in a large planter. Picture an over-sized plant stake! There are short pieces of re-bar available at the hardware store so your customer’s dish flower doesn’t have to stand so tall in the house.

5. Go Post-less! Make flower heads as wall hangers

For some people, all the advice and suggestions you offer for front porch decor will be a turn-off. Why? Because its something “extra” they have to do at a time when they are super busy. They won’t want to take home something that’s “fussy”. Older buyers may not be able to handle a hefty bag of sand.

NOTE: big box hardware stores like Lowes keep playground sand outside with the bricks and in some areas, could be frozen solid in winter and need to be thawed in the garage)

Why not make the flower head a hanger that can hang on a wall instead of on a post? I’ve actually had the occasional customer suggest that I make ones that can be hung up. I bet you have,too!

These customers love the dish flower concept, but even in summer, they can be top heavy and difficult to handle. Some customers may live in apartments or condos and don’t have a yard. Give them something to take home!

Even though you intend for it to be indoor decor, I still suggest using outdoor adhesives to glue a D-ring or saw tooth hanger on the back side of the plate. The customer may decide to hang their Christmas dish flower out by the front door where it may be exposed to very cold temperatures. I’ve known some good epoxies to fail when they get brittle.

In Conclusion

I hope after reading this, you’ll be more confident and thus more likely to introduce your audience to beautiful Christmas dish flowers. Ones that are unique and original and sure to bring on the compliments.

Keep these 5 tips in mind: Make them extra pretty, extra durable, wonderfully displayable, usable indoors in potted plants or hanging on a wall.

If you do these things, you’ll be sure to have Christmas dish flowers that sell. If you’re an artist or crafter, come be part of the Make it a Garden community! Sign up below to get our newsletter and more great ideas for garden art and design.

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About the artist

Kristen specializes in up-cycled crafts. She has a reputation for quality and attention to detail, and her artworks show it. She takes such joy in making things “extra special”, especially during the holidays. Her craft posts may entail a bit more description geared to those who don’t make crafts on a regular basis. Even if you do, you’ll appreciate the thoughtful insights so your projects turn out beautiful!

Other seasonal crafts using plates:

Make a Jolly Snowman from Plates

Cute Snowman Wall Hanging