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Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
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Small Business
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You Can Own
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After her school days ended, Kittie was an office employee in a leading store in her home town. At the same time, as an outlet for her creative energy, she added tatting, embroidery and new trends in "fancy work," as it was called, to her accomplishment. Then she married Ernest Garlick, a laundry machine salesman and settled down to homemaking—and "fancy work."

But when Mrs. Garlick became a busy mother, naturally family obligations came between her and all non-essentials. In spare time between regular housework activity, her nimble fingers turned out clothing for herself and the youngsters, not to mention knitted sweaters, hoods, caps, stockings, mittens and so on. After the children were grown and established in their own homes, Mrs. Garlick became her husband's office manager.

THEN, IN 1946, she was widowed and leisure began. Unwelcome leisure at a critical time when she longed for action.

Noting her restlessness, her daughter urged: "Take it easy, Mom. You've always worked hard. Now settle down and enjoy life."

Enjoy life, Mrs. Garlick thought. I'd be apt to enjoy life sitting around the rest of my days facing long, lonely hours of idleness. Hours that disorganize the mind and devitalize the body.

Mrs. Garlick is not, however, the kind of woman to accept such a condition. She just donned her thinking cap and got busy. As a result, she decided it was time for her to become her own business boss. What she really craved was something—a hobby, perhaps—she could handle in the home she shared with her daughter, son-in-law and their daughter. This, she felt, should bring peace of mind and could easily develop into a source of income.

Mrs. Garlick said nothing to the family about her ambition. Nevertheless, she was thinking about it more and more all the time. Her final decision was to take a vacation trip, continue daydreaming and look around.

IT WAS while window shopping in Chicago during this trip, that Mrs. Garlick came upon a display of small potted plants made of cotton fabric. The little eye-openers delighted her. So did the little prices placed upon them.

Thinking a few of the plants would add a bright and homey touch to her daughter's kitchen windows where real plants had refused to bloom, she hurried to the floor on which the ornaments were for sale.

Did you ever see a display of handicraft so alluring that your fingers simply twitched to start work? Mrs. Garlick experienced just that feeling when this display appeared before her. Her mind zipped back to the corsages of long ago.

"This little number," said the salesgirl, displaying an attractive creation in a glistening red pot, "is a daisy arrangement. A best-seller."

"A daisy?" Mrs. Garlick asked skeptically. "I've never seen a dotted daisy In the garden." ' "Oh, well," the girl shot back, "the plants are mere ornaments, so don't let a few spots or stripes bother you. Otherwise it resembles a daisy, doesn't, it?" she asked politely. Mrs. Garlick says she had to admit it did. Then the girl went on to say: "Prices range from $1.25 for this kind to $1.50 for the more intricate varieties. The ornaments were made by a hobbyist, and they sell like hot cakes."

You can guess the sequel to that one. Mrs. Garlick had chosen a hobby and, by that choice, wound up not only with a new lease on life but a business that now turns cotton fabric plus a few other "doodads" into silver dollars.

With the enthusiasm of a teen-ager, Mrs. Garlick purchased a variety of plants. A few minutes later she was seated at a desk in the store lobby dissecting the daisy and listing equipment required for making the ornaments.

On the way back to the hotel, Mrs. Garlick purchased every article on her list that she did not have at home. Now, she thought, dropping the last item—a roll of leaf-green crepe paper—into her shopping bag, "I'll not need to waste time searching for materials when I get home."

AS SOON as Mrs. Garlick got straightened around and rested after her return to Lawton, she got right down to business. She was fortunate in having a daughter who was eager to help in assembling equipment for the project. Together they cleared Mrs. Garlick's worktable and placed the Chicago items on it. Then they rummaged around the house and came up with thread, yarn, cardboard, straight-edge scissors and the like, not to mention a scrap bag chock full of beautiful cotton fabrics. All this saved Mrs. Garlick money, and when added to her Chicago purchase, equalled exactly what she needed as a beginner.

Mrs. Garlick lists basic materials and tools required for making the gay ornaments, as follows:

Various colors of both plain and printed cotton fabric.

Various colors of heavy, four-ply woolen yarns or artificial flower stamens.

Odd buttons.

A spool of leaf-green, cotton thread.

A spool of heavy, white, cotton thread.

Various colors of embroidery floss.

A bolt of green florists' tape or a roll of leaf-green crepe paper.

A package of pipe cleaners.

A spool of tiny, white thread covered wire.

Liquid glue.

A bar of paraffin.

Colored sand.

Cardboard, approximately ¼-inch thick.

Plastic flower pots in assorted colors and sizes.

Pinking shears.

Sharp scissors.

Small tweezers or small scissors for cutting wire.

Large-eyed needle.

Thimble.

Tape measure.

Sewing machine. (Since most women own one, count this off on cost).

"In addition to all these," Mrs. Garlick adds, "other ingredients that help are ingenuity in finding economical materials and a will to work. "Of course, inherent artistic taste and skill are wonderful assets, but they're not necessary." Almost anyone, she believes, can turn out good, realistic potted plants by a careful study of Mother Nature's results and by following instructions.

But remember," the hobbyist warns, "you can't master the art in a few minutes. Each part is an individual problem."

To beginners, Mrs.Garlick says: "By using scraps of cotton cloth, yarn, floss, cotton, cardboard and such, sharpening up your old scissors and utilizing other tools on hand, you can get a good start, for an outlay of $3.75. Not bad, considering the ornaments this sum will yield should furnish the experience a full-fledged hobbyist must have, not to mention the savings in gift money and the possibility of sales to cover the entire cost.

ALTHOUGH Mrs. Garlick turns out a wide variety of plants, she sticks closely to the simple types because they cost less, require less time to produce and are in greater demand than the more intricate creations.

Mrs. Garlick started with the daisy. She now laughingly admits she made many a phony before she came up with a plant that was so bright and lifelike that she was proud of herself. And when it bloomed in the window, fascinating the family, she says she knew she was on the way.

Then, following the Chicago ornaments, she took a fling at the intricate models, and worked them out by trial-and-error, her idea of the best method of achieving success. Before she realized it, she recalls, her imagination was off on a rampage. And there is no end of possibilities, says the hobbyist, when one's imagination starts stunting. However, she soon found, that results were more pleasing when she followed the patterns of Mother Nature herself. She continues this plan of procedure—that is when customers permit.

"That's all there was to it," Mrs. Garlick asserts, "except that I stuck to it and endeavored to make improvements as I went along. If you will go and do likewise, and follow the ensuing directions, I am sure you will wind up as I have, with a hobby that will produce a satisfactory margin of profit and employment that will be a definite joy."

MRS. GARLICK explains her method of procedure as follows:

Since the finished ornament should be a good arrangement, a plan of organization must be made. A plan that will resolve the elements into a pictorial effect. Regardless of your choice of creation, the theme flower—or dominant flower, if you like—should be selected first, followed by careful choice of the secondary parts.

Step 1. Select the theme flower. Although several flowers are equally easy to fashion, let's choose that best-seller, the daisy.

Step 2. Select fabric in color desired. In selecting color for flowers, buds, leaves and wrappings, Mrs. Garlick says she imitates nature as nearly as possible. If, however, a customer goes modern and orders a plaid print rose, for example, or a dark red daisy arrangement, as a Canasta club hostess had just ordered for a club prize, it's all right with Mrs. Garlick. "Why not?'" she asks. "We all know that even in the same botanical family flowers are rarely identical. So why make dissatisfied customers?"

Step 3. Select harmonizing elements. The type is for you to select. Mrs. Garlick explains, and individual differences add a nice touch to the finished ornament. Nevertheless, it is imperative that you keep size and color—shades and tints—in harmony with the theme flower. Correct contrasts are beautiful. Mrs. Garlick is partial to a smaller blossom, a bud and leaves of the theme flower family for secondary parts of her plants. However, for this example her choice was a miniature tulip, a little tight rose bud and three daisy leaves to be arranged with the dark red daisy mentioned above.

Step 4. Select fabric in colors desired for harmonizing parts.

Step 5. Choose the pot. Why? Because, according to the principle of design, measuring from the top of the container, the plant material must be one and one-half times as high or as wide as the visible part of the container. Since the pot is the one element of the ornament that cannot be altered in form, size, or color, by selecting it now, proportion, the relationship of plant material to the container, and scale, the inter-relationship of the flower or elements to each other, can be more easily achieved. For example, no flower should be too large for the container. Colors should not fight. Plan all such details and you will be rewarded.

Step 6. Assemble chosen fabrics and other equipment on your worktable.

YOU ARE now. ready to tackle the plant. Here is how to make the daisy:

Step 1. If you do not have a petal pattern, cut one, using as a guide, a petal cut from an illustrated garden seed catalogue or a flower leaflet, perhaps. Or, better yet, copy a product turned out by Mother Nature herself. Also, excellent booklets on artificial flower making are available at hobby, art and supply shops and these booklets give hints on pattern making. Some even carry photographs of patterns in exact dimensions. So take your choice. The average petal pattern in Mrs. Garlick's collection is: Length, 3 inches; width, 1½ inches at the widest portion and gradually sloping to petal shape. Increase or diminish to suit your need.

Step 2. Fold fabric over with wrong sides together. Spread smoothly on the table. With the lengthwise center of the pattern, following the up and down thread of the fabric, pin the pattern to it. Now, using sharp scissors, cut out the petal. Remove the pattern. Repeat the procedure until you have cut five more petals. (Mother Nature does not give all daisies the same number of petals).

Step 3. Cut off six 4-inch lengths of wire.

Step 4. Taking one length of wire in your finger tips, bend it into a petal-shaped loop that reaches to within ¼-inch of a petal's edge. Apply a thin coat of glue to both sides of the loop. When the glue has become slightly "tacky," lay the loop evenly, points downward, on the inside surface of a petal half. Now, carefully cover both with the half petal's mate and press the two together, thus completing a petal.

Repeat the procedure until you have six petals made. Lay them aside until the glue "tacks" the wire in place.

"At first," Mrs. Garlick says, "copying the Chicago models, I used heavy wool yarn for stamens. But, after experimentation, I found I could save time by using the artificial type sold at art shops, so I switched to them. However, for those who do not have access to a shop that carries flower stamens, I shall give my method of making the yarn type."

Here it is:

Step 1. Cut off six or seven 3-inch lengths of your four-ply yarn. Tie a single, hard knot in one end of each length, simulating the anther. However, should you wish to portray a flower to which nature gives fluffy stamens, omit the knots and ravel out the ends.

Step 2. Stamens complete, arrange them around one end of a pipe cleaner. Bind them tightly to it with your spool wire or floss. Clip off excess yarn at the bottom.

When art shop stamens are used, simply arrange them around a pipe cleaner and bind them to it. Much easier.

WHEN THE petals are thoroughly dry, you are ready to assemble the parts.

Step 1. Assemble the petals, one at a time, around the base of a group of prepared stamens. Using spool wire, fasten all parts together as a unit by swirling the wire around the bulge at the base of the petals, and ½ inch or so on down the pipe cleaner, making sure the surface is regular. Snip off the wire.

Step 2. Apply a thin touch of glue slightly above the top of the binding wire. Beginning on the glue, encase the bulge and pipe cleaner in either green florists' tape or leaf-green crepe paper. Should you choose the latter medium, cut a strip ¼ inch wide across the grain. Stretch the paper as you wrap, in order to make the surface smooth. Now, turn the blossom over. The stamens face you now.

Step 3. Arrange the petals daisy fashion and cup them, one at a time, around the stamens. Now you have completed the theme flower and its stem.

To fashion any other type flower, Mrs. Garlick says, procure the proper pattern and follow the same general method of procedure as that given for the daisy.

NOW THAT the theme flower has bloomed on your table, create the harmonizing parts.

Here is how to make the miniature tulip.

Step 1. From the chosen fabric, cut a 4-by-5-inch strip, either on a straight of the goods or on bias. Bring the 4-inch ends together evenly, wrong side out. Stitch. You now have a tube. Turn one end of it up over itself until the ends of the seam—now on the inside—are exactly together and the raw edges between the ends of the seam meet perfectly all the way around. Run a strong gather thread from one side of the seam to the other. Gather the edges tightly. Fasten the thread but do not clip it.

Step 2. Should you choose yarn stamens, prepare a group of the fluffy variety and fasten it to the inside center, following the method you used for the daisy.

On the other hand, should you choose to use a colored button to simulate the stamens, insert a pipe cleaner up through the center of the tight gathers. Bind the base of the gathered fabric to it, using the attached thread. Now, on top of the cleaner, inside the tulip-shaped fabric, lay a colored button. Sew button to the gathers, utilizing every eye. For a more lifelike effect, outline the button with French knots or a chain stitch in the correct color of floss.

Step 3. Wrap the base of the tulip and the pipe cleaner as you did those of the daisy.

HERE IS how to fashion the bud:

Step 1. Fasten a tiny bit of cotton over one end of a pipe cleaner. Wind a scrap of the chosen fabric around the cotton to represent the desired bud. Fasten securely to the base of the cotton.

Step 2. For the bud's calex, cut three or more leaf shaped pieces of green fabric. Arrange points upward around the top of the bud. Fill the bottoms in around the base of the bud. Wire all to the pipe cleaner.

Step 3. Wrap the calex base and the pipe cleaner, following the same old method.

Compared with other elements of the arrangement, the leaves are a snap to construct.

Step 1. Following the instructions given in Step 1 on how to fashion a daisy, clip out a pattern. Your type flower calls for a plain leaf approximately 4½ to 5 inches in length and l½ inches wide across the center and gradually sloping toward each end.

Step 2. Double leaf-green fabric. Lay pattern on it with lengthwise center on up and down thread. With pinking shears, cut out the leaf. Repeat the process twice. You now have three leaves cut.

Step 3. Pin two half leaves together. With your sewing machine threaded with leaf-green cotton thread, run a seam up one side to the tip of the leaf and down the other side, missing the pinked edge by ¼ inch all around. Leave a small opening at the base. Run two straight seams through the lengthwise center, leaving sufficient space between them to insert a pipe cleaner.

Step 3. Insert the pipe cleaner. (Do not wrap it).

WHEN YOU have finished the other two leaves by repetition of the above procedure, you are ready to begin the arrangement.

Of course, your arrangement need not be as perfect as if it were headed for a garden club judging table, but be careful. If you plop your flowers and leaves carelessly into the pot they may look stiff and ordinary. But, for example, arrange them in a triangular outline, and you'll find they are beautiful. Here is how to arrange:

Step 1. With the triangle in mind, give the theme flower the prominent position. Place the little tulip on the left and about one-third lower, and the bud on the right about two-thirds lower. Complete the design with a background of leaves that fill in, keeping in mind the triangular pattern. Attach their stems to the combined flower stems, so that, when the plant is potted, the bases of the leaves will appear just above the top of the pot.

Step 2. Encase the six individual stems together with florists' tape. Now you have a plant complete with a stem. A stubborn plant. It will not stand alone. So what? You must cater to it by planting it in a pot.

Mrs. Garlick sums up the planting:

Step 1. Prepare the pot. To furnish a stay for the sparkling, lazy plant, cut a round of cardboard to fit ½ inch below the top of the pot. Pierce a circular hole in the center, the diameter dependent upon the size of the plant's stem.

Step 2. Insert the stem.

Step 3. To anchor the plant more firmly, pour about three teaspoons of warm (not hot) paraffin over the cardboard and flow it in around the stem and the sides of the pot. The final trick in making the potted plant more realistic, Mrs. Garlick says, is creating an illusion of nature by sprinkling a small amount of your colored sand over the paraffin before it cools. Presto! Your plant. is enjoying its natural habitat: earth.

"Now see what's happened!" says Mrs. Garlick, wiping a drop of paraffin off the worktable. "With the aid of a few pipe cleaners, wire, glue, other little helpers and a bushel of fun, a few scraps of cotton fabric have become a canasta club prize—a silver dollar. Talk about sleight of hand."

FOR SOMETIME during the experimental stage, Mrs. Garlick used her output for home decoration and for gifts to relatives, friends and neighbors. Naturally the recipients "planted" their gifts in their kitchen windows, thereby winning Mrs. Garlick many potential Customers. Also, they bought choice ornaments for card club prizes and for gifts for friends, who, in turn, bought for themselves and for others who followed suit. And so it started. Word-of-mouth and sight advertising went on. The long and short of it was that Mrs. Garlick's products were becoming quite well advertised with little or no effort on her part.

Soon the president of a church organization, preparing to hold a bazaar, asked to exhibit and sell on commission. Thinking that this would be a top-notch way to acquaint the public with her ornaments, Mrs. Garlick granted the request. The women agreed to sell the plants for the regular retail prices, ranging from 89 cents to $1.25 each, and deduct 25 per cent of the income as their commission. A generous commission, to be sure. However, since costs range from 15 to 20 cents per plant, dependent upon whether or not scraps have been utilized, it left the hobbyist a nice margin of profit. Also, the afternoon resulted in more sales than Mrs. Garlick could have accounted for personally in weeks.

Local business picked up. Mrs. Garlick was soon agreeably surprised to find a business budding in her bedroom. And when people of whom she'd never heard began placing orders, she knew she would succeed.

"My method of sales promotion," Mrs. Garlick says, "has been ideal for me. However, other hobbyists may not have friends who will take over the sales job as mine did." To those who find themselves in such a predicament, she says: "Don't be discouraged. There are other methods of sales possibilities. For instance, keep your products constantly before the public. Interested people will tell others about them and soon your work will be noticed. To supplement this eye-appeal and word-of-mouth publicity, run a small advertisement in the classified advertising section of your local paper. By advertising in a hobby or a handcraft magazine, you could easily develop a mail order business. And remember that a satisfied customer, is a wonderful advertiser."

MRS. GARLICK prefers to retail her creation directly from her worktable to the customer, not only because she enjoys meeting people, but, because, by this method she nets her greatest profit. However, she has found good markets in small gift shops, the owners of which have heard of the ornaments through friends and exhibits in other shops. This method of selling enables her to do a larger volume of business than to rely on direct home sales alone. Occasionally a shop owner calls at her home and purchases on "cash and carry" plan, thus saving himself delivery charges. But most of them place orders to be delivered at a certain time, paying cash on delivery, plus delivery cost. These transactions are at wholesale prices. The prices? Mrs. Garlick cuts her retail prices low enough so that the shop owner can add a markup and thereby make a reasonable profit too. Following this arrangement she recently sold a large order to a Texas gift shop owner who had seen a group of her ornaments in a friend's kitchen window.

Mrs. Garlick sells on a cash basis only, except in the case of plants sold through organizations.

For a young person with plenty of vitality, taking up the hobby in a big way, Mrs. Garlick recommends wholesale selling. By devoting the time spent in waiting on customers and entertaining "lookers" to production, she says one could really go to town. Personally, Mrs. Garlick does not care to expand her sales beyond the number of plants she can create and still enjoy life. The best sales time of the year she has found is from the first heavy frost until garden flowers bloom in spring.

Mrs. Garlick's prices vary according to the cost of material, the time spent on construction and the method of selling. For those retailed at home, prices range from 89 cents to $1.25 each. Wholesale and organization prices are influenced by prevailing prices of other ornaments in the locality. Of course, the prices are not fancy, but, by and large, they're ample. For instance, Mrs. Garlick recently turned out, in two days, without undue pressure, an order for twenty ornaments that netted her $21. Not too bad.