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Brannon got the idea from an acquaintance who made a living during the depression days by selling ash trays that he made from oyster shells, scrap wire, and stove bolts. This friend would make up a quantity of oyster shell ash trays, then canvass a neighborhood from house to house and sell his ash trays for fifty and seventy-five cents each. By making his own job, he made a good living all through the depression.

Most cities have one or more restaurants that offer sea foods, including oysters served fresh from the shell. The oyster shells, after the oyster has been removed, are considered worthless and are hauled to the city dump. So these restaurants will gladly give anyone all the shells they want and at no cost.

"Don't let a pail full of dirty and rather smelly oyster shells deceive you as being worthless," Brannon comments. "When the shells are properly cleaned and deodorized, their unusual shapes and coloring will really surprise you."

THE GRIME and sea mud should first be washed off the shells with the garden hose or in a pail of water. Then, the shells should be sorted—not all of them are suitable for ash trays. The deeply cupped shells are suitable for the ash retaining parts of the ash tray, and the larger and flatter shells are useful as bases.

After the shells have been washed and sorted, take a metal scraper or old knife and remove immature shells that have grown to the outer surfaces of the mature shells. A type of barnacle oftentimes grows onto the shells also, and these must be scraped off. The remaining sea growth and dirt can then be removed from the shells by using a steel brush and water.

When thoroughly cleaned, the oyster shells must be deodorized before they can be used in the ash trays. A teacup of washing bleach mixed in a pail of water makes a suitable deodorizing solution. The shells should remain in this mixture for about thirty minutes and then be laid out on a dry surface preferably in the sunshine to dry. Don't let the shells lie in the sunshine too long, however, as the sun's rays tend to bleach out the colors on the backs of the shells.

No two oyster shells are exactly alike—even the two halves of the shell forming the home of the oyster—so any selection of shells to make an ash tray is an original in itself. However, two deeply cupped, fairly well matched shells should be selected for the two ash retaining shells of the ash tray. A larger shell with similar coloring should be chosen as a base for the tray. Sometimes two or more shells that are grown together make a decorative base.

THE FRAMEWORK to hold the ash retaining shells and the base shell together is made from a twenty-inch piece of fourteen-gauge galvanized wire. The middle of this wire should be looped twice around a piece of ½-inch gas pipe to form a ring that serves as a handle for the ash tray. The wire ends should then be twisted a few turns to form a neck below the finger size loop handle. Now bend the wire ends at a ninety-degree angle to the handle neck as shown in Figure 1. Next make a U bend in each wire end as shown in Figure 2, thereby forming the arms to support the ash retaining shells. The two wire ends are then bent downward, the excess wire clipped off, and a loop is made in each wire end to fit on the base shell. Figure 3 shows a completed ash tray framework, Since no three shells will be exactly alike, the length of the arms that support the ash retaining shells, and the length and angle of the wire loops to fit the base shell will have to be shaped to fit the surfaces of the selected shells.

With the wire framework made to fit the three shells, a ³/16-inch diameter hole is bored in each ash retaining shell to match the U bend in the supporting arms; and the same size holes are bored in the base shell to match the end loops of the wire framework. These holes can be bored through the shells with a ³/16-inch diameter metal drill bit and a common brace or breast drill.

The shells are now attached to the wire framework with ³/16-by-½-inch round head stove bolts. Be sure and have the heads of the bolts up with the nuts underneath the shells. The bolts should be pulled tight with a screw driver and pliers so that the shells and wire framework are held firmly together.

When fully assembled, the shells should be given two coats of white shellac. Do not shellac the inside surfaces of the ash retaining shells. After the shellac has thoroughly dried, the wire framework and bolts should be painted with gold paint to finish an attractive and unusual ash tray. A small bottle of gold paint purchased for a few cents from a variety store or a hobby shop will paint the metal parts of at least 100 ash trays.

"I have found that the wire, bolts, shellac, and gold paint cost about five cents for each oyster shell ash tray, so all above that, plus the value of my time is clear profit when I sell a tray," Brannon explains.

AFTER MAKING a supply of oyster shell ash trays, Brannon faced the problem of marketing them. With the idea in mind of selling to restaurants, he made several contacts but found that the restaurant managers would not pay enough for the ash trays to make that a profitable outlet. Contacts with variety stores also proved unfavorable since these stores sell ash trays made from glass or other materials for as low as five cents each. He sold a number of the ash trays to men where he works for $1 each; but that market was limited, so he knew that he would have to find some other means of selling his hobby item.

Remembering the house-to-house selling method of the friend who had suggested the oyster shell ash tray idea to him, he found that he could get from seventy-five cents to $1 each for his ash trays by selling in this way. The occupant of each house is a new potential customer; and they are looking at the product you are selling by itself, not in comparison with a lot of other articles—this leads to easier sales. Brannon's seven-year-old son, Larry, and a neighbor boy have helped in this house-to-house sales work. Boys of this age enjoy doing things of this kind, and giving them a percentage of the sales encourages them to earn some of their spending money. Considering the small cost of materials used in the oyster shell ash trays, the seventy-five cents and $1 each give Brannon a very fair profit for his spare time hobby.