I need to hang some plants (small, a few pounds max) from the ceiling but I don't want to go the usual toggle bolt or the drywall anchor route. These create holes that are too large for the kind of weights I want to hang. In other words, I feel like when you're talking about 2-3 lb weights, you should be able to get away with much smaller holes.
What I imagine is something similar to those elastic holders used for hanging name badges. I'm talking about these: 
If the metal part is thin enough and resistant enough, then you can get away with minuscule holes. Imagine that you had a sewing needle with the ear right at the center instead of the top. Thread fishing wire through the ear and push the needle through a small hole in the ceiling. Once it goes through the other side pull back on it, causing the needle to lay flat on the other side of the ceiling.
The amount of weight this sort of setup could support would depend on:
1) the strength of the metal anchor (sewing needle in my example)
2) the dimension of the hole in the ceiling. The smaller the hole the more weight it can support. (Also 3, the fishing wire, but I think the first two will become a problem way before that).
Something like this seems pretty simple to put together. Really the only problem is finding a long thin piece of metal with a hole in the middle (the hypothetical needle with ear at the center).
My questions are:
1) Is this dumb?
2) If not, what's a cheap, easily available object that I can use as the metal anchor?
Best Answer
You might have answered your own question... what about a (larger) needle?
Tie the fishing wire round the middle of the needle (and perhaps use a dab of glue to hold it in place if it won't hold itself).
If you can't find a large enough needle, try a small gauge knitting needle? Again it might need a dab of glue to hold the wire in place in the centre.