Article on Pricing by Working Fiber Artists

[MTRuth]

www.textileartist.org/top-textile-artists-price-work/

Goes into a lot of detail, various opinions from several fiber artists.

[jwugg]

Very interesting. These people are solely working in the 'fine art' market & I guess are at the top of their game.
I'm no Moy MacKay so I did laugh out loud at the '3 times minimum wage' comment.

I'm still at a 'happy to get sales locally, enough to buy more materials' Stage,which perhaps defines craft from art?

[tracey]

Thanks Ruth, that was a good read.

I guess the stage I am at is just looking at the smaller picture of how much the materials cost and waving my hands at the time producing the item. 

Here is an example.  My husband was commenting on the first flower bag I made, which I made for myself.  He said let's say someone paid you £70 for it, and I tell you if they did I would be cart wheeling down the street and I cannot even do cartwheels! , he said if that took you ten hours to make which it was probably more, I would not be paying myself the minimum wage, and that's without calculating any material costs. As I have said before - tricky.

[penguin]

Really interesting article.... Covering materials costs is fine ...unless you actually have to make a living out of selling your work, which is why I think so many people find the shift from hobby seller to business so hard ... And why I doubt I'll ever make that leap! Not that I've even done hobby selling for about 20 years! I have my doubts that anyone in the uk could make a long term sustainable living just selling at craft fairs, for instance. People aren't prepared to pay for time taken as a rule, and when your rivals are selling to cover material costs that pulls the prices down. Even if you get into the really high-end ones you've got to travel a lot. Then if you sell into shops you've to make the price so that they can add their profit! Sooo hard. People who manage a craft business are usually super-energetic crafters, teachers, social media aficionados, businesswomen (it's usually women I think) and all-round wonder-women. Kudos to those of you here that fit into that group! wish I did.

[halay]

Dec 16, 2016 7:31:17 GMT jwugg said:

 
I'm still at a 'happy to get sales locally, enough to buy more materials' Stage,which perhaps defines craft from art?

totally agree with you.

[zed]

I think they need to value in the price of their 'gimmick' or 'backstory' in to pricing too. I follow the arts council and crafts council and everyone they feature has 'explored the relationship between...' something or otther, i think the latest was 'vessel and content'. And it's surprising just how many people are working from narrowboats and barges these days.

I definitely think that the higher your price, the more your work is valued. But you have to find someone to display it or seel it and still need buyers.

I say the same thing as your husband Tracey, who really is going to buy one of my notebooks for £85 even though they can be used indefinitely. No one around here, anyway!

[tracey]

I have come to the happy conclusion that I am a hobby seller as Anne mentions, and I would be happy to cover costs to buy more materials as Jill mentions. Luckily for me it is a much loved hobby with no need for it to be a business - just as well I hear you all thinking!!   I do want to sell at craft fairs, and whilst I would not underprice and give things away, I hope I could price sensibly.