Steve's Blog

You have published an incredible site.

A family member recommended me to this resource. Thanks for the information.

Any place(s) nearby which are milling wood flooring? I can find "rainbow" red cedar, alternating bands of brown/red and cream. . . not too obvious in a carving. Disappointing because the end grain appearance is great.

Hi Steve, I work prices out by charging $5.00 per piece of wood in the finished article, even the smallest piece takes time. Sometimes make an adjustment for complexity or lack of. Direct sales. Haven't tried the gallery route but guess I will have to very soon. Very best wishes to you both for a wonderful Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year. Don

Hi Don,
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

Great article Steve, one of the best I've ever read about pricing. I think another aspect is to try to tie a potential market target to the piece. I sent you a picture of my ELVIS with a FED-EX logo on the jumpsuit. It sold great here in Memphis. I also did a Christ intarsia that I put the local church's initials on. It takes more that intarsia talent to sell a product. It takes an idea. Your sailing trophies are another great example of creating a need.Pets are another hot item for me Find a family with a black lab named REX. Do a black lab intarsia with a little tab on the bottom that says REX. Sometimes you can kill on the price, and recoup some costs on losing items. Best regards keep up the bloging ideas if you can find the time.

Great advise. I would add, that anything that is being made to sell, should never be a "One off". You can still maintane a "One of a kind" status by varying the wood choices, or some other aspect.

I measure the length. $80.00 for the first 30cm, unless the piece is little and I do very few of those. $1/cm after that. Bowls/dishes by circumference. Woodblock prints, about 30-45 cm image = $20.00, unframed with a generous border and certificate of
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.

I cannot see why for the life of me why we artist ever have to resort to selling our work based at $5.00 per hour,I might just as well keep my work and put them on the walls of my own house. We are skilled people who supply a need YES a need and that need
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

G'day Steve. I really enjoyed your blog on what we can get for the things we make and you were spot on and I would like to tell you my story for I only recently started. I have been disabled for about three years and the boredom of doing nothing was driving
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

Thnx for writing these details on your website.

Why don't you have a gallery of your sailing trophies?

Just getting started into intarsia, great site to start off on. Keep up the good work Steve, and, like me, you have to get into the workshop and away from the 'puter.