Pandora's Box...

Apologies for the unexpected hiatus, our kitchen fiasco has become a bit all consuming this week, but we are now on the way back up (I hope!).  Our kitchen has been a bit of a 'Pandora's Box' from the start, so, trying desperately to stay positive about loosing the floor, has led us to finally start decorating the room.  So, today, I have painted 3 coats of white (it still looks patchy) onto what was a bare plaster ceiling, and being such a messy job, I have virtually turned myself into a human paint brush and am covered in white paint drips!!

(latest wip, which has unfortunately had to go on the back burner due to kitchen mess)

Now, down to the serious business, first, there is an interview with me here, and second, the winner of the toadstool giveaway is...

Amy from My Zoe Bug

So, if you can email me your address, I will get the toadstool off in the post.  

All I need to do now, is swap the paint brush for a sewing needle and camera, and there will be a new tutorial to post, watch this space...!

On a roll...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article all about crafting with fabric for 'Craft Business' magazine, a UK based trade publication. It was actually quite interesting to write and a project I would be happy to do again. It occurred to me while I was researching, that so many of the craft magazines available have specialized in paper crafts for a long time now. I would really like to see more fabric and sewing based projects and ideas returning to their content.

If you would like to read the article in full, here is the web site. You would need to register in order to download the latest issue, number 45, but it is a very interesting read, covering latest developments and news in the craft industry and is available online bi-monthly.

Edit to post - I've realised, that if you click on the above page images, they should pop up large enough to read, thus avoiding registering on the Craft Business web site. That makes it easier!

How much...??!

In addition to selling handmade craft items through online market places like Etsy, I often, as I imagine most blogging crafters also do, get a lot of speculative email enquiries.  The difference I find with being approached in this way, is that when a potential customer is browsing through an online shop, they can already see the prices there next to the item.  But when someone makes a direct enquiry, they genuinely have very little idea how much a commissioned item is potentially going to cost, and they are, in my experience, usually a little shocked.  Even though the asking price may well not be particularly high.  Herein lies my personal pricing dilemma, one which I suspect other crafters may well recognise.

I find myself cringing, when replying back with a price.  Then I ask myself, why is it making me cringe so much?  There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to pricing craft items, and most crafters will already know this basic formula for working costings out,

materials + labour + overheads = minimum sale price

what about this next formula?

materials + labour + overheads + % profit = minimum sale price

I quite often feel like 'profit' can be a bit of a dirty word.

Looking at this another way, this time in terms of a comparison to drawing a salary.  A small softie, eg a cotton reel pincushion, lets say I charge £12 ($18.34).  It takes just less than 2 hours to make from start to finish, so divide £12 by 2, and that's £6 ($9.17) an hour.  In the UK, from October, the minimum wage will be £5.93 ($9.06) an hour.  Am I, despite being Degree educated and having 12 years worth of industry experience, really only worth 7p (11¢) more?

But can I realistically charge more than £12?  In all honesty in the current global financial climate, no I don't think I could.  The end product is after all, despite being handmade, just a pincushion.  Which leads me to ask, do I automatically devalue it myself by making it into something practical?  If the same item was marketed as an art object instead eg, vintage cotton reel soft sculpture, how much impact, if any, would this subtle re-branding have on its commercial value?

The answer lies partly in breaking down the business model behind each product any crafter makes.  Looking at the figures I've quoted above, a cotton reel pincushion would not be classed as a commercially viable product.  They take too long to make (or I probably need to speed up) when compared to the income generated.  I make them because I like to make them and they look cute.

I am certain I can't be alone in feeling like this, and hope this post will open up a bit of a discussion about pricing as I would dearly love to hear your experiences...

40,

 Had to flip the card in the photo so you could read it!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, I've had a fab weekend.  My birthday on Friday was kicked off with my Mum arriving to look after Lucy & Luke whilst we went off to Cambridge for 2 days & 1 night.  Then me & Mum spent the day here on Sunday.  We had a morning in the spa followed by a massage, facial and a pedicure.  For the first time ever, I have painted toenails.  Chocolate brown toenails!

There are no photo's as all the good stuff has either been eaten or just purely indulged!

Fox softie dilemma...,

I'd been meaning to re-visit the Fox softie pattern I started a while ago, and after a trip to the local charity shop resulted in an ideal coloured woollen jumper to felt, there was no excuse!  The original pattern got tweaked slightly, but while I was sewing, another idea kind of popped up.  When I begin a new pattern, the first decision I make is whether it's going to be a side on profile or front on profile.  Usually, it's an obvious choice as to which will work best, but in this case, I'm not quite so sure...!

So, here we have them both,

FOX 1,

and FOX 2,

(Fox 2 from a different angle)  

So, I need your help on this one, which do you prefer?

FOX 1 or FOX 2?