Art/Craft you create - how do you price them?

Will

I'm thinking about selling some of the things I make, a guy I know gave me the basic ground rules;

raw material cost - simple enough
equipment and tools

Time spent creating it - he told me basically whatever my hourly rate in my current job is + 15/20% on top of that

I make bowls and bits of wooden jewellery.

Simple version;

bowl blank - €15
equipment - €1,000 or there abouts
time spent making bowl - €18ph (lets say im on €15 an hour in hypothetical job, so add 20%) 2 hours spent making bowl = €36

The bowl assuming this dudes guidance is correct is already €51, not including the breakdown of using all the equipment.

Would this be the correct way to price an item? What about the design, unique grain of wood and beauty of the piece? Would these not factor into it? Or is that a luxury only afforded to those with a name behind their works?

Anywho cheers for any replies and or guidance you may offer me

poker princess

i'LL BE IN TOUCH

neelyohara

It will be interesting to see some of the replies. I don't sell but I would like to in the future.

I did come across this some time ago and I thought you'd like it!

Description

(The exchange rate at the time of listing makes this US$325.83.)

I've had a lot of practice at knitting socks, so I've gotten pretty good, & quite a lot faster too. I can knit a plain pair of socks using 2.5mm needles & average sock yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon) in 30 hours. (Obviously, lace or cables or even ribbing is harder on the hands & takes longer.) As I like the idea of starting a knitting business, I thought I'd try selling the socks I've made.

Minimum wage in my country, the UK, is currently £5.80 per hour. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/
I think it's reasonable to charge a little more for skilled labour that's taken me years to perfect; £6.30 per hour.

30 hours x £6.30 per hour = £189.00
(I could knit these in 3-4 days, but if I knit for more than 4 hours every day I get repetitive strain injury in my shoulder; this isn't unusual for knitters. So these would take 7.5 days, £25.20 per day. Some people can do a pair in 10 hours; that's £63.)

I'll add the cost of the yarn, usually around £7.50 for some pretty sock yarn.
(This could go down to £5 or up to £20, depending on whether it's hand- or machine-spun, hand-dyed or painted, etc.)

I'll add wear & tear on equipment - my hands, my needles - £4.
(Generally speaking, the more expensive the needles, the faster you can knit.)

Coriandr listing fee: £0.20p
PayPal fee: £8.00

I've seen other people selling knit items. The going rate seems to be about £10 for a pair of wristwarmers using chunky wool, which would take me 6 hours (£37.80 in time alone). I am not a slow knitter.

Some people think that crafters who undercharge are devaluing the craft for others. Since no one can afford the true price anyway, perhaps this is a little redundant. How much would these be in Primark?

Who can afford these socks? Would you like to buy them and pay me a realistic amount of money for my time, effort & skill?

And if you would like to buy her socks they're here!

Will

I've thought about this too, I could easily spend 5 hours turning a bowl (and have done), from mounting it on a faceplate, carving, sanding, waxing/sealing and or staining and much more however if I want to sell my items I have to make them commercially viable.

Spending 5+ hours on a bowl or 30+ hours on a pair of socks, that really isn't the smartest idea. I'm sure they're lovely and all but personally wouldn't pay that for some socks.

Let's say I spend 5 hours on a bowl that's (18x5) €90 in labour, going by your mans advice. I think you need to strike a balance between time investment and the finished product.