Bill and Sylvia Shirley on wed 14 oct 98
Hello everyone,
As a lurker, and at the risk of rejection and ridicule, I had some
thoughts about selling fountains that I wanted to share with the group.
Recently I attempted to make my first fountain, which was to go under
the wedding cake at my niece's wedding, and then be given to the couple
as a gift. I also made the cake. Have you ever seen the flimsy plastic
fountains they sell/rent for cakes? Anyway, it occured to me that this
might be a good market for those of you who make fountains regularly.
Here are my thoughts:
1. You could offer fountains to the local cake decorating supply
stores. The store could buy a fountain (or a several in different
styles/colors) to rent, or they could take orders for custom jobs, and
charge a commission. The bottom of the rental fountains could be
inscribed with the name of the cake supply shop, as well as your pottery
info..
2. For couples who order a special fountain to keep, you could inscribe
the name and wedding date of the happy couple on the bottom.
3. You could offer the fountains to caterers, also with their name
inscribed on the bottom. (Caterers also frequent the cake supply
stores.)
4. You could set up a web page with your wedding fountains, and link it
to some of the MANY cake decorating and wedding web pages out there.
5. You could get a booth at a Bridal Fair, displaying a fountain under
a dummy cake, or showing it set up as if on a reception table. If you
don't decorate cakes, you might barter a fountain for a dummy cake.
Come to think of it, a bridal fair might not be a bad idea for selling
regular pottery, too. They have all sorts of things to sell at those
fairs.
To fit under the cake, the fountain needs to be less than about 15"
diameter, and 12" high. The plastic cake fountains are illuminated, and
we got around that by arranging candles and flowers around it. The
fountain I made had a series of graduated bowls, ending in a large bowl
at the bottom. Since it was my first one, I wanted to keep it simple.
Fountains for reception tables could be any size.
Good luck.
Sylvia
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