Thread: Money makers for the holidays?

I thought I'd start a thread for people to post their ideas for possible airbrushed products we can make and sell for the holidays, both custom made or for general public purchases. With the economy being what it is, we have lots of potential customers for some easy to make and low cost gifts.

The following are thoughts I've had, but please add your ideas for potential products or services you think would fit the bill!

Wrapping/gift paper
Custom skateboard decks/boards
Airbrushed skate and cycling helmets
Bike packs/book bags
Pillowcases and or sheets
Refinishing/painting bicycle frames and wheels
Lunchboxes
Toolboxes
Coffee or tea mugs/cups
Christmas/holiday ornaments
Water and food bowls for pets
Pet sweaters or shirts
Sweaters or shirts for stuffed animals (teddybears, Moose, etc.).
T-shirts
Hoodies
Airbrushed trays or platters for searving food, etc.

Great idea on the carpet/rug samples!
Plastic and ceramic flower pots
Personal coolers/ice chests with favorite sport, team, or club logos, animals and or slogans on them. You can do matching hats, shirts, etc.
Computer cases.
Cel phone and Ipod cases.

I know you can take a lot of free items and turn them into a golden gift as well. Here are some more for the list of things that can be done.

1. A Rock. You can take a rock and turn it into a cherished trophy. Clean it, give it a shimering base coat, airbrush something great on it, and clear coat it to a shine. Once we painted a rock for $1,500 dollars for the army and installed it for $350. Though it was not a gift we have done several smaller rocks for gifts.

2. For people who love to make blankets. They have asked for a piece of material airbrushed to sew into the centers of the balankets.

3. Ornaments. Scuff them, clean them, airbrush and clear them. Be carefull not to drop them, or you have to do them again(I did). Font mentioned.

4. Instruments and cases can be done at a fair price.

5. Mailboxes

6. Car floor mats and seat covers.

7. Tons of gag gifts

8. Stockings

9. Footballs, basketballs, softballs, and baseballs.

I'm not even sure how to aproach this topic. I don't have a retail storefront, or a sales tax lisence anymore. I haven't ever sold anything on line from my art and air brushing web pages. ie T-shirts, LEPrints, etc.
Greger

One thing I haven,t seen on the lists is old LPs if I remember rightly Kimmo posted some once and they looked really cool. So if your like me and still have your music history still on Vinyl then now is the time to have a go.

Originally Posted by GregerLMacleod

I'm not even sure how to aproach this topic. I don't have a retail storefront, or a sales tax lisence anymore. I haven't ever sold anything on line from my art and air brushing web pages. ie T-shirts, LEPrints, etc.
Greger

You might be surprised at the possible markets in your area. Even taking a cheap ad in your local papers and such can bring you a lot of business. Marketing nice stuff at some good rates, and even doing a setup like a garage sale/yard sale/boot sale can do wonders, and as it was already stated there are lots of events like holiday bazaars, harvest festivals going on, and once you get your act together you'll find that people will spread the word on you and your offerings and capabilities. You will probably find that people will come up with their own ideas on what they want painted (the objects or items), they just need you to do the actual painting.

Neder, I still have probably 1000 or more albums on vinyl, but they are pieces of music or performances I value, so I wouldn't let anyone near them. But there are tons of old LPs at flea markets and sales that would be ripe for the picking!

More for the list;
Posters
Toilet/Loo seats and their covers
Windbreakers
Placemats and napkins
Model cars, trucks, bikes, etc.
Holiday seat cushions, or any theme or design for that matter.
Rocking horses or other animals or characters.
Trash cans/waste bins

License plates, dollar store tennis shoes, book covers ( the stretch over the book kind) ring binders, or even the paper binders. You can buy the concrete scalloped trim blocks for gardens, paint them white, and airbrush the last name and the state symbol on them........

Good ideas KD, I hadn't thought of anything in that realm!

I was trying to think of things we could airbrush that would have a market, and that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg for us to produce.
My first thought beyond the usual T-shirts and such was for people to do refinishing/painting of bicycle frames and wheels. I figured that with the economy the way it is that more and more people would be getting out their trusty old two wheelers and that more and more parents would look at used bikes as a gift if they weren't too expensive. The rest of the stuff was off the cuff ideas. But I think there is a huge market for us out there.

Hey Font in my Enthusiasm ( yippee I have one that no one has posted ) LOL I worded my post a little bit wrong. I am certainly not trying to entice people to ruin their music history. I myself have a turntable set up in the Dungeon where my work station is and I can remember where and how every scratch came from all be it Dark Side of the Moon or Motor Head.

The binders and book covers are GREAT ideas!

Not a problem Neder, I've seen some great portraits of the musicians done on LP's.

I know what you mean about "knowing" your vinyl, I still have my original Beatles, Doors, Simon and Garfunkel albums (among others).

How about airbrushing some of those collapsable window shades for automobiles? The ones with the wire frame and the nylon cloth covers.

Auto/car seat covers.

Sketchbook covers for the budding or hopefull artists.

I once saw a beautiful piece of artwork done on a storm door screen of all things. It was a lighthouse from the Great Lakes painted on it.

The customer would have to bring in his screen, of course.

Kids wagons
Thermal coffee mugs/cups
Foam soda/beer can insulators
Umbrellas

Take a look at your local discount stores like the 99 cents store, you may be surprised at all the things they sell. Many items are there because people didn't like the style or look, with a little bit of paint you've made a sale!

Now is the time when many thrift stores start pulling out their winter goods. I found some leather jackets, vests/wastecoats, and a variety of hats that would make great a canvas for work. You may find that you can do a deal with shops like this, doing a jacket for them to sell in trade for advertisement or dual marketing for you and your skills.

I found aprons for cooks, BBQ chefs, crafts persons, etc., at Walmart. These are 50/50 blends (cotton/polyester), with a couple of pockets up on the chest. They come in a few colors, Black, Red, White, Dark Olive Green, and maybe some other colors too.
These could be painted like you would a T-shirt, with flames, skulls, etc. and lettered with the buyers choice of names and text. They were only a few bucks a piece, so they would be prime deals for selling to your customers, and it's a "one size fit's all" so no issues with having the wrong size stuff.

How about doing custom paintjobs on those giant tins of popcorn?

The same for those industrial size containers of nuts, cookies/bisquits, or crackers. They could be painted to be cash jars or piggy banks, or for decorative versions of their original contents.
People just throw those things out as it is, but something done for a season, holiday, or personal interest or theme could bring in some money.

Scribbler, I take it you mean putting the scene on a tin or container for Granny's fruitcake? I don't know how the fruitcake itself would take the paint much less the glossy clearcoat. LOL

How about those big containers for pet food, doing scenes of our beloved pets that can be used over and over again. As an example, I have two cats (actually, I think they own me). Buy large contaners (20LBS) of kitty litter, and they come in a nice solid container that is air and water tight. I also end up going through a boatload of dry cat food, but it comes in coated paper bags that aren't air or water proof. So using the cleaned kitty litter container for holding and dispensing the catfood made perfect sense, but having it look a little more presentable (and less likely to be confused with new containers of kitty litter) made it much easier to deal with and show.

How about doing cookie or candy/sweets gift containers out of those big coffee cans?

No Scribbler I haven't seen your Granny's fruitcake, and from the sounds of it that's a good thing! 8{)

Originally Posted by redneck

is it true that fruitcake gets better the older they gets ??

Maybe if your dream is to break your teeth!

Fresh well made fruitcake is a delicacy. Creating it is almost an artform in itself.

How about custom mouse pads?

Did not see anyone mention Santa hats or stockings.. Simple quick name or a full scene.

Cue Stick bags (holders), guitar straps and bar trays.

Rug sets for the bathroom.

I love the garden edging stones idea. I may have to give that a go; here everyone is from somewhere else and they are all retired!

Not exactly casual gifts for the general market, but bass drum heads, guitar, bass, and keyboard cases, stands, etc.

Weight lifting/back support belts, workout bags/duffle bags, raquet ball and tennis bags.

Scribbler, you could do all the wild tattoo artwork on the belts that people would like to have reflect their personalities, and or a message, but work aprons for those same warehouse people, could do some serious help for your pocket book too.

How about "Welcome" mats? Doing them up in the appropriate holiday theme and colors would make them a custom fit for any household.

Consider doing window splashes for homes or storefronts.
A quick coat of a cheap white latex paint on the window lets you use almost any kind of paint over it, and the act of painting itself draws attention to the stores and to you and your talents.

How about doing those reusable cloth shopping bags? The basic bags are cheap enough, and you can get them in a variety of sizes and colors. These end up being walking murals or sales tools for you and or your customer.
With holiday motif and cute or sentimental sayings, or maybe holiday scenes or seasonal sports shown. With the Winter Olympics almost upon us you could promote your favorite sport, or country.
These could be done with children's favorite characters on them as travel bags or small overnight bags.

Just thoughts from the cheap seats.