This is the question I get asked all the time. So I know that at least some of you out there are considering trying to sell your work.
So how much are they worth?
Early Days - A Typical ScenarioYou've started on a new and exciting woodworking skill called Intarsia. You can't get enough of it. Your family and friends are really impressed with the stuff you are making. So every new piece easily finds a new home.
You are happy to give your finished pieces to your close family and friends. But then friends of friends start wanting pieces.
It occurs to you that while you certainly enjoy making them there are costs involved other than your time. And even though you don't feel you need to be paid for your time it would be nice to get some sort of return for your labours.
Mid Intarsia Crisis
Well maybe not a crisis but now you do start to think it might be good to sell a few intarsia pieces to recoup costs. And how much easier is it to get the boss to agree to a new machine in your workshop if you are showing a return. "Well dearest heart, Ive made a few bob already and with that money I can buy a brand new - insert your preference here - so I can make my intarsia even more efficiently and then I'll easily be able to get around to making that new coffee table you've always wanted and so richly deserve." Woffle wofle woffle.
The Big Question
How much are they worth? How long is a piece of string?The golden rule. "They are worth whatever customers will pay for them"
Which doesn't actually tell you anything. So let's look at a couple of pricing scenarios.
The Academic Approach
A Masters degree in Business will tell you to do something like this. First calculate your total cost of production.
Material Costs
- Timber including any waste $ Very little
- Plywood backing $ A tiny amount
- Hangers from a framing shop a few cents
Consumables
- Sandpaper $ more than you'd first imagine but still not much
- Glue a few more cents
- Varnish or oil finish $ a few dollars
Overheads
- Workshop rent - it might be your garage but somebody some time had to pay for it.
- Telephone
- Electricity
- Broom for sweeping up
- yadda yadda yadda
Marketing
- Cost of stall at local flea market / car boot sale
- Traveling cost to get there
- Your time sitting behind the stall all day
Profit
The cream on the top that you deserve over and above your wages for running your own business.
And now the big one
Labour
Your local mechanic charges $50(or $60 or $70) per hour to fix your car. And it's probably the first year apprentice that's done the work anyway. It's taken you 84 hours to make your masterpiece (you've carefully noted the hours) and it looks fabulous. You're not greedy so maybe $20 per hour is okay. That makes $1680 plus the $50 for all the materials etc. $1700+. Probably not going to get that at the local market.
Okay lets be less ambitious and work for $5 per hour, I don't actually need anything, this is just a hobby. And I'm sure I must have got those hours wrong, lets pretend it was only 40 hours work. So $200 plus a bit extra for materials, let's call it $220 all up. Now that sounds more reasonable.
So not-with-standing the business degree what we've actually done is made a guess at the price. Surely there's a better way. You're right, there is.
The Two Month Rule
Sitting all day in the hot sun at a local flea market hoping a punter with $220 in their pocket will happen by is okay occasionally but not a regular, reliable income stream.
Oh, you say, but if you take your work to a local gallery they take 40%, or 50% or more for themselves. And all they have to do is hang it on their wall, I had to do the hard yakka to make it. Highway robbery.
But if you go the gallery route you don't have to hang around all day, every day looking for a customer. They do that. That's what you pay them for. And they have to spend the money to make their gallery look good, not you. We always tried to make quality woodwork so we could interest the best galleries in the land. Way to go. Happy to pay their cut as long as they keep them trucking over.
Back to the two month rule.
I used to take my finished woodwork to the local gallery and talk to the owner. After some discussion we came to an agreed starting price and his percentage. Listen to the owner. If they are any good they know their market. Your beautiful intarsia gets hung on the wall.
Hopefully the first thing the customer sees when they first walk into the gallery.
- If the work sells in less than two months it is too cheap.
- If it takes much longer than two months to sell it is too expensive
- And you guessed it, if it sells in about two months the price is just right.
The first time I did this I took along 2 frog intarsia on Thursday. They both sold that weekend. Price too cheap but I knew there was a market. Okay, so now you know the price you can sell them for. But you are still only going to be earning $5 per hour based on the time it took you to make that first one. So what have you gained? The knowledge that you can't expect your customers to pay for your inefficiency.
So what can you do about it. There are lots of ways to streamline your production. You will make your 20th frog a lot more quickly than the first one. As you get more experienced you will come up with all sorts of short cuts.
But that's another blog.
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Comments
It's good to hear your original spin on pricing.
The tree frog was one of my biggest sellers. 38 pieces so $190 by your formula. I used to wholesale them for $165 a few years ago and the galleries retailed them around $250 to $300.
We are in the same ball park!
Steve
authenticity. I carve my name across the middle of the wood block when my print run is done to conserve the print value and sell the blocks for $200.
is the satisfaction people get everyday when they look at our GOD given skills. Mechanics are thought in school how to do work at their gifted talents however most of us artist (Me Included) are self taught and that is what makes us unique. So please people
see us as extremely talented people who existed on this planet way before the Mechanic or Carpender... not that there is anything wrong with these professions. "Give Us The Respect We Deserve" Kenneth C Young
me crazy so a few months ago I bought a small lathe and all the gear. I am a qualified carpenter/joiner and I did wood turning in a bygone era so it was not new to me. I bought the gear just to have something to keep me occupied and within five minutes of
making my first item I decided i would turn this into a small business and it has been brilliant. I went on a business course and was working 16 hours a day knocking up a big stock of various things and loving every minute. I started doing craft fairs and
what a lovely bunch of people the other stall holders are helping with everything as i struggle to walk. Then I showed my stuff to the craft centre in the village where I live in West Wales and they took £300 worth. Mind you, they take 30% when an item is
sold so I put the prices up and they are selling like hot cakes. It is the setting Steve, it is all laid out very well and my things are professionally displayed which helps a lot so the things fetch more there than they do at the craft fairs. Now several
months down the line I realised that I need to make more items and have two tables instead of one at the craft fairs for the same outlay and I have been bitten really hard with the scroll saw bug but it has been so frustrating. I rang a friend who had a DeWalt
788, he had had it laying idle in his shed for over a year. I made him an offer, which would be the equivalent of $100 and he said he would think about it. several days later he must have been strapped for cash for he rang me and said he would bring it round.
It was in a state but I knew it was all on the surface. I took it all apart and worked all day on it and then put it all back together again and now if you saw it you would think I had just taken it out of the box. I ordered some flying Dutchmen blades fro
Mikes workshop in America on the 17th and still waiting so I am using crap blades till they get here, maybe tomorrow. I have a small lump sum coming in a few weeks so i am going to order an Excalibur scroll saw and then I can make two things at the same time.
Only joking. The DeWalt scroll saws were withdrawn from sale in the Uk some years ago because of an electrical problem and the problem is still there apparently so i use it with a surge protector and so far its been fine. Yes, it is exciting and I am spending
every moment making things that will sell at craft fairs. Pricing has always been a problem and the mistake many people make is that they sell to cheap and at the other end of the scale some charge ridiculous amounts and wonder why they don't sell. Initially
I was just covering my expenses but I was making mistakes because it was all new to me. It is no good laying stuff out on a table and then hope for the best. If it's made from wood have a nice dark table cloth for a start, black or maroon are good. Then have
a shelving system so the items are at eye level with the punters and make the stall interesting, don't have several of one item all bunched up together but spread them out. One of the items I make that sells more than anything else is a mouse and I have half
a dozen in a little group but then there may well be another dozen out on the table peaking round other things and people notice and go "Ahhhhh." aint he cute and then you can start the sales patter. I have made simple little spinning tops and when a kid comes
close i spin one on the table and straight away he wants one so drags his mum and dad over. I give the kid the spinning top and the family normally buy something because they are by the stall and can see everything. Once again Steve, I really enjoyed your
blog. All the best. Geoff