Craftsmanship
Craft pricing
The other thing is the cost of sales. Right now, you have a few requests. You can charge whatever you want. If you do try to sell more, how will you sell them? Consignment gallery? They take 40% of the final selling price and don't like it if you sell for cheaper yourself. Craft fairs? Jury fee, booth fee, booth, and your time for selling. Website? Cost of the site, cost to build the site and maintain it. If they will really be 'just a few' you may be plagued by people who won't spend any real money - 'hey could you make me one' and then fade away when it isn't Walmart pricing. The appropriate price helps keep the riff-raff away. They figure that hey, you enjoy woodworking so why should you charge for the labor? end of rant.
People posting their work on your page
How about something like this at the top of your page: "Thank you for your interest in my work. I try very hard to create interesting, unique pens for your enjoyment. If you see someone else posting their work on my page without my invitation, please consider whether you would want to do business with someone with low moral standards. They will probably treat you with the same disdain they have treated me. I vow to treat you and everyone I do business with great care and professionalism." That ought to slow down the posters.
Craftsmanship through the ages
This is another reminder that long ago, people weren't stupid. They didn't have the same accumulation of knowledge that we have now and had fewer ways to share current knowledge, but they did great things. Try building a castle with hand tools and horses. Try making a graceful teapot in silver with hand tools.
People long ago were just as smart as we are (aside from lead poisoning from eating off pewter). Their tools were manual but pretty high quality after about 1200AD or so. Sure, there was less previous knowledge to build on but go to any European or Asian museum and look at the 500 year old craftsmanship. Impressive.
Crafting Prices
You mean should we allow people to work for $2/hr if they want? That, unfortunately, is the cornerstone of crafting in the U.S. It does damage the rest of the craft market when pricing expectations are driven down but then so does imported goods.
It reminds me of a jeweler (Tom) I talked to. He said another jeweler was selling nice pieces with exceptional stones in them for about 1/4 of what they were worth. Tom talked to this other jeweler and found out that he inherited a big pile of the stones so he didn't feel the need to include their value in the cost of the work. the guy finally understood the problem when Tom told him that if he had less scruples, he would buy the whole collection and cut it apart for the stones and silver. Some jeweler eventually would. The artist was horrified but got the point.
The other thing is the cost of sales. Right now, you have a few requests. You can charge whatever you want. If you do try to sell more, how will you sell them? Consignment gallery? They take 40% of the final selling price and don't like it if you sell for cheaper yourself. Craft fairs? Jury fee, booth fee, booth, and your time for selling. Website? Cost of the site, cost to build the site and maintain it. If they will really be 'just a few' you may be plagued by people who won't spend any real money - 'hey could you make me one' and then fade away when it isn't Walmart pricing. The appropriate price helps keep the riff-raff away. They figure that hey, you enjoy woodworking so why should you charge for the labor? end of rant.
People posting their work on your page
How about something like this at the top of your page: "Thank you for your interest in my work. I try very hard to create interesting, unique pens for your enjoyment. If you see someone else posting their work on my page without my invitation, please consider whether you would want to do business with someone with low moral standards. They will probably treat you with the same disdain they have treated me. I vow to treat you and everyone I do business with great care and professionalism." That ought to slow down the posters.
Craftsmanship through the ages
This is another reminder that long ago, people weren't stupid. They didn't have the same accumulation of knowledge that we have now and had fewer ways to share current knowledge, but they did great things. Try building a castle with hand tools and horses. Try making a graceful teapot in silver with hand tools.
People long ago were just as smart as we are (aside from lead poisoning from eating off pewter). Their tools were manual but pretty high quality after about 1200AD or so. Sure, there was less previous knowledge to build on but go to any European or Asian museum and look at the 500 year old craftsmanship. Impressive.
Crafting Prices
You mean should we allow people to work for $2/hr if they want? That, unfortunately, is the cornerstone of crafting in the U.S. It does damage the rest of the craft market when pricing expectations are driven down but then so does imported goods.
It reminds me of a jeweler (Tom) I talked to. He said another jeweler was selling nice pieces with exceptional stones in them for about 1/4 of what they were worth. Tom talked to this other jeweler and found out that he inherited a big pile of the stones so he didn't feel the need to include their value in the cost of the work. the guy finally understood the problem when Tom told him that if he had less scruples, he would buy the whole collection and cut it apart for the stones and silver. Some jeweler eventually would. The artist was horrified but got the point.