(no subject)

[pixiecrinkle]

OK, so we had an art show at work today and I put two scarves in it that I made recently in my spate of boho-hippie-crazy-chic scarf making. They are the ones pictured here and here. One of those I posted a poll about pricing a while back.

The first one, I put a price on, the other I listed as "not for sale but commissions available."

I did not win anything in the show, but that's fine. A crocheted afghan that got an honorable mention should have won, but a simple quilt beat it (we were all lumped into the fabric category. I didn't enter to win anything though, just for the exposure should I decide to do our holiday craft show.

Someone just emailed me and wants to buy my loop scarf. So I got all excited. Then I read the email. She said she thought it was $15. I couldn't remember what I put on it, but I knew it was more than that, so I just went down and checked. The price is $40. I thought perhaps I'd put $45 and she misread as $15, but no.

I just emailed her. Maybe she'll still want it, maybe not. But even despite its rustic appearance $40 is not a lot for that. It's got, let's say $20 worth of yarn in it, and I spent about 5-6 hours designing it and knitting it up. So that gives me an hourly wage of about $3.65.

Edit: OK, no big deal. She still wants it. Woo-hoo! My first sale of a knitted item!

Comments

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the trouble with knitted stuff--with any handmade stuff--is giving yourself a living wage. Strangely, according to some of my art-show-savvy pals, the trick is to price up--sometimes stuff that won't sell at a medium price will sell to a whole different market at a higher price. You see? And the plus side is that you actually get a living wage.

"Simple" quilt? Just how simple? ;) As an art quilter, it is my duty to defend my medium, even if it hasn't been my medium for about two years now. Seriously, I am guessing that it truly wasn't that special, since you probably have a basic respect for these sorts of things. I'm just curious.

[pixiecrinkle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I struggled on the pricing because of the fact that the only people who see this will be people I work with. I didn't want to go too high and have people think "Wow. She must make a lot to think people will pay *that* for a scarf." So I erred on the side of pricing it to sell.

And, I called it a "simple" quilt because it wasn't really quilted. It had a nice patchwork pattern that she'd pieced into a triangle, and that was done well, but there was no quilting to it at all. Sure, it had batting in between the layers and a backing and a binding, but no quilting. It definitely deserved a prize, but I still think the crocheted afghan should have been placed above it.

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

No quilting? Bizarre. I see what you mean.