Spinatomy

Pocket Watch Felt Brooch by KaelaMills

This is something that has been annoying me lately.  How often have you had a conversation like this :

Craftsperson : “I make *insert handmade goods of choice* and sell them online and at markets”

Other person : “Oh cool.  You never get your time back though.  You wont make any money from it.”

Craftsperson : “Yes I know.  I do it for the love and so much time goes in, but I can’t price my *wonderful unique creativity* to include my time – no one would buy it.”

Well why the heck not?  This has become a bit of an issue for me.  Now I’m not claiming I price my things perfectly, in fact I know I could work on it some more, but surely as crafters and artists we SHOULD value and include our time when pricing our goods.  What makes me most annoyed is not the attitude of the non-crafter, but the defeatism of the crafter.  It’s been me in the past, I admit it, but now that I have spent some time selling online and at markets, I am now standing up and saying hell yes we should be paid for the time as well as the materials.

Kids Eco Friendly Felt Money by AlicesPocket

Lets look at a basic example. And I mean basic – no travel, electricity, printing, computer, etc etc etc costs included :

Say I buy $5 worth of materials. I spend 1 hour designing, planning and preparing and another hour making my creation.  What the minimum hourly wage rate where you live?  Right, times that by 2 & add the $5 for the  materials.  There is what your creation has cost you.

Now we apply the one of the many formulas out there to help price your handmade goodness. So cost times 2 = wholesale.  Now times by 2 again to get your retail price.  Woah!  That’s a big price tag eh?

But here’s my point – it should be!  You are not a factory turning out 1 million identical items.  You are a crafter, who puts their heart and soul into each and every item you make.  You will not find your items in every shop.  You need to be proud of yourself and your unique creations. You are worth that price tag.  You ARE.

So let’s not hear any more “I do it for the love/wont make any money” talk ok?