Causing a Stir in the Garden: Plant Markers on a Budget

 (Cross-posted from our family blog, Sketch Stitch Stretch)

Stick with me, kid.

A week or so ago, my cousin posted a set of photos on her social media page, showing off her brilliant work on a packet of plant markers for a friend. She took paint stirring sticks, wrote on them with a wood burner, and then trimmed them with some nice beads and twine:

My cousin is a LOT more artistically
detail-oriented than I am. And her hand
is steadier.

Naturally, I felt the need to steal her idea (albeit with my own variations, to meet my peculiar preferences). It took me a few tries before I settled on the format I liked, and now I'm better than halfway through the list of the perennial plants requiring identification.

Ours is a big garden.

At any rate, some paint stores will give away a stirring stick or two, so if you shop around, you can do this on the SUPER cheap, but I ordered a packet of 100 from one of those giant online retailers who shall remain nameless, and the sticks cost an average of 25¢.

It also helps to already have a wood-burning tool on hand, but if you don't have one, and you think you might take the craft up as a hobby, these are not particularly expensive gadgets, and you don't need a lot of added doodads to make it a costly addiction... unless you decide you need to start working on specialty wood, or suddenly "need" a laser cutter/burner.

A pencil and eraser, also, are useful for marking guide lines and text. Don't bankrupt yourself on high-end toys. Just grab what you have on hand and have some fun.

Color enhanced for clarity.
Really. It's just pencil markings.

I admit it. I'm a nerd. I need to include basic Linnaean taxonomy.
And I did this on both sides of each stick.
Because.

For the record, my wood burning tool is a multi-tool, for soldering, stencil-cutting, and wood-burning. I bought it several years ago at my all-time favorite place to shop, and this is the first time I've applied it to wood. It's a learning process for me, too.

And I may also dig out an old can of spar varnish from the basement & give these puppies a coat of it, for durability out there in the elements. We'll see.