Easy, Cheap Garden Tags From Disposable Spoons

Step 4 Finalizing The Basic Tag

At this point, you should have a basic tag. From here, you can either set it aside for later use, make more tags, or go ahead and label it, or you may move on and create the "advanced" garden tag. To label it, Take the Sharpie, and write on it like you would any other tag. To create the "advanced" garden tag, head on over to the next step!

I would like to take a moment here to address an issue that came up when I first posted this on the cactiguide forum. Many of the users there found that over the years, Sharpie runs off of their tags. While I haven't been making these tags for over a year, I cannot say that they do the same or not, but I can offer an alternative. Many of the people on the forum suggested using pencil to write the tags with. One of the problems with using pencil on a plastic spoon, is that the spoons are typically smooth and glossy, and therefore, pencils will not make a mark on them. To address this issue, I tinkered around with my tags, and found a way that enables pencils to be used. To use a pencil on the tag, take a very fine grit sandpaper (I used 600), and sand down the tag, from the top to the point, in individual, full strokes. This creates a surface that is just rough enough to allow the pencil grind graphite into. If you choose to do this, do not move the sand paper back and forth, speeding like an ADHD 1st grader. If you do this, the surface will likely melt from the heat caused by the friction of the spoon and the sandpaper, and leave you with an unsightly stick of plastic that nothing will write on to any recognizable degree!