Need an idea for a Stake

[Seasonals]

Customer is picking up a memorial piece tomorrow. It will in a paper mache pot. She asked that we include a stake so she can hammer it through the oasis, out the bottom of the pot, and into the ground. I don't want it to be two big because all the water will drain out. I'm thinking maybe 3 small ones on the edges. Do any of you have some expertise in driving stakes? Thanks.

 

[esm]

Instead of staking through the mache container, we usually give the customer 2 or 3 pieces of coat hanger wires that we cut into long J hooks (sort of like hairpins with one leg a little shorter) Insert the short leg in the mache, and the long leg into the ground. Works great and costs nothin'! (And we all have tons of coat hangers to get rid of!)

 

[Patty]

Yipes! I hope the ground isn't rock hard. No matter how small a hole you make in the mache, the water will still drain out.

Any way you can make 3 holes in the lip of the mache pot, cut the legs off a wire easel with bolt cutters and push them through the holes?

Or attach them to the outside of the pot somehow?

Good luck.

 

[Sher]

What about using hyacinth sticks grouped together in two's or three's and taped to the side of the basket whereever it would not show?
Never had to do this and have not had coffee...only thing I could think of
Sher

 

[Dee Dee]

We do the wire hanger thing I think we made approx. 1 Billion of them LOL

 

[Seasonals]

I should have posted a picture, but it's to late know the order is out the door. When I walked in this am, there sitting on the design table was a heavy guage wire apparatus used to secure wreaths to boxes. It was a light bulb moment for sure. I cut the ends at different lenghts and bent them. Used heavy clear packaging tape and taped it to the bottom of the pot after the arrangement was made. It was perfect and looked really professional. Need to patent that idea!
Thanks everyone who responded.

 

[Rhonda]

Because our cemetery sits on a hill with no wind blocks, the breezes howl across it. For 34 years, I've cut wire coat hangers for people who come to get their arrangements. Now that the drycleaners has closed here, we have no more source of hangers...even put the call out to some older customers who brought us in a bunch for this year.
Cut the hook off, cut the long side in half, rebend a hook about 3-4 inches or size of mache insert the hook into back of mache and front of mache when placing at the cemetery. Works great, nothing tips over...

 

[Carol Bice]

I have used this method for many years. Sometimes, when the wind is particularly strong at certain cemeteries, I go buy stronger wire at the hardware store.


Carol Bice

 

[desndennis]

We have used #9 wire for years,,, some hardware stores have it,,, we buy it at a farm store. We use bolt cutters, cut it in about 20" lengths and bend one end over to make a hook. Much stronger than clothes hanger wire.

 

[Seasonals]

I'm going to get a little stock pile of hangers and have them ready. Our cemetery sits on a windy hill too. It's pretty well divided between grass, gravel and concrete. The wires will work for the grass and gravel. Again Thanks everyone.

 

[Erlene]

I would think you could use a couple of stakes through an empty mache container, insert it into the ground and then put the mache with the design into the empty mache. The double top would or could likely be hidden by foliages.

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

Hardware stores carry ceiling hangers, they're the wire stringer things that hold up drop ceilings. We use them all the time for making grave stakes - cut to length with bolt cutters, hold the longer portion of the stake over a desk, and bend. Easy peasy. Cheap too.