So I've Taken Up Wood Carving....

Got myself 3 commissions yesterday as well from a fellow volunteer at work. She wants me to decide a price to charge her.

 

Always difficult isn't it JJ,
Jenny

 

Well done Jane. Prices aren't easy to work out especially with hand crafted items. If it would be any help I could speak to my daughter. She has recently started her own craft business and I could see what sort of percentage she charges on top of supplies for her time spent making, it my give you an idea.

 

I would appreciate this. Most of the stuff I've carved is from offcuts so it's more my time than anything else.

 

As a general rule of thumb try this formula:

Total Cost of materials (including any cost in terms of collecting them/having them delivered) + hourly rate * hours taken to complete.

Hourly rate should be at least what you'd expect from a paid day job, don't get too hung up in the actual hours so if it takes more than a couple of hours it took half a day, if it took more than half a day it took at least a full day.

 

I just made one of them up yesterday and am not happy with it to charge that sort of rate. If I was pleased with it then I would quite happily charge £10 for it but I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist right now to allow people to give me more money than I think it's worth.

 

Jane....I've just sent my daughter an e-mail and I'll let you know when she replies.

Having read Clueless' post, he is obviously along the right lines, but don't price yourself out of the market. Every craft takes a different amount of time to produce and if you were to charge by the hour it may not work depending on time spent of course. I for instance am a bobbin lace maker and it can take weeks just to produce one small item like a bookmark. There is no way I could sell anything based on an hourly rate, the price would be ridiculous.

 

I got put on the spot when a neighbour asked me for a quick price on a stone carving i'd done, she wanted it for her hubby's birthday present & he was coming back in the room in a second.

I blurted out £65 (don't know where that came from)

It had taken me 3 days to carve

 

Jane......sorry, my daughter wasn't any help as she charges a set amount for what she produces.
The only other thing I can suggest is to have a look around (internet may be) and see what other people are charging for something similar.

 

It seems I worked it out as roughly £10 each swift, the lady asked for two of these and one robin. The robin I haven't priced yet as the first one took ages to do and was working it out as I went along.



Have made the first two swifts up already and they only take roughly 2 hours each to make.

I now have another two of these to make on top of the two I just made as I had another request yesterday from another volunteer. It seems people are happy to spend £10 on them which I'm surprised at and that there seems that they all want them put on their shed doors. Am wondering if I should attempt another animal that people would want on their shed doors.

Quite a few people were expressing interest asking "what else do you make?" I had to grab my phone and rummage though it to see what I had took pictures of that I had carved. It was suggested to me to make a "proper" portfolio in the future.

 

I'd love to see a photo of the robin you carved. As to other animals you might carve, what about a bee or maybe a ladybird? I think they'd look cool on a shed door. I like swans myself. A swan sitting among the flowers in summer would look cool too!

 

Fern.....Janes robin is on post #58.

 

Jane.....it looks like you've got yourself into a new craft business. Good luck!

 

Thanks Sheal...........lovely Robin JJ. Well done!

 

Yes I am a bit overwhelmed by how quickly things are "progressing". Last week I was making things as gifts to save me money and now some people want to buy my wears. The first lady wants me to sign the bottom of all the carvings, which I wasn't expecting.

I did a silly thing yesterday and while looking in a local gift shop for inspiration I noticed a local artist I know selling her bits in there. I then went to the counter, without thinking and asked if she was accepting more works from artists and she said yes. Then asked if I could bring some in after Christmas and she would let me know.

Felt quite pleased myself until again I was hit with a crisis of confidence and concluded that my items probably wouldn't be good enough for someone to sell in their shop yet.