Of course, I finished my Jumbo rope cushion, sent it off to the shop and have been waiting for a reply but I don't seem to have been able to settle to anything else. I got out my Kid Silk Haze project which has not been touched since January. I started trying to unpick it (ha ha!) The first two rows seemed to unravel relatively easily, but then ...... well lets say after many hours I gave up.
Update
Unfortunately, as I suspected, the shop didn't want my Crochet Rope Cushion as the price was too much. They did like it however and commented that they had seen similar at the London Design Show this week. How I get it down in price though I shall never know! Rope is rope and without buying 1000's of metres in order to get a substantial discount or knocking off my hourly rate (which would mean working for nothing!! and at £8 hour is only just above minimum wage) I am stumped! How do you price products if you are serious about selling them? Do you allow yourself an hourly rate and if so do you think £8 per hour is about right? After all a shop is going to put a fair mark up on anything they sell and whilst I realise they have many overheads I would like to think I could make a little something too!! This isn't really a moan, it's just despair!! I have the skill to produce these things and it's obvious they are on trend but how to sell them for a fair price is beyond me!!!
Fine Cotton Crochet
I've been meaning to show you these for a while. They have not been blocked yet so are a bit squiffy still!
A friend of mine is collecting bits and pieces for an heirloom quilt she is planning to make so I have been experimenting with fine crochet cotton squares. Not sure which one to choose, may just send them all and let her make the decision!! I love doing these but once again ran out of inspiration this week and put it away for a while. If anyone has any pretty afghan square patterns they wouldn't mind sharing I would love to do a couple more.
Jumbo Crochet Hooks
My OH has been making some jumbo crochet hooks ....
..... this week as I have a Jumbo Crochet Basket workshop coming up at Spin A Yarn this Friday. The last one was great fun so keep your fingers crossed for me!!
Country Walk
And lastly we have been for a lovely walk today so I thought I would share a few of the beautiful examples of nature we noticed along the way :)
Have a lovely week everyone. I'll let you know how the workshop goes next time. See you over at
Handmade Monday
Bye
x
Sorry to hear the shop did not take the cushion. Pricing is a nightmare, too high = 0 sales. Too low and folks think its rubbish. Hourly rate does not work for me so i just look at other similar work and produce a figure. I do make enough to cover costs and commission charges. Then anything left is profit. I try to aim for 1/3 to 1/2 share for me.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know where to start with pricing items, so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteGood luck for the workshop.
You seem to have had a really frustrating week. I am really sorry. I think you must remain strong on your price - you have to make something from it otherwise it is just not worth your while. I LOVE your squares. So dainty and totally exquisite.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a nice country walk! As for pricing your items, maybe you could try Etsy? Cut out the middle man? Not that I've had much luck myself!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a shame about the crochet rope cushion. It is so hard to price our work realistically and still make some sort of profit. Often I find that people expect handmade to be cheaper than something they may see/buy from a shop. Why? Do they think we don't deserve to be paid for the time we have spent making our work? That is a very impressive crochet hook. Hope you have a good week.
ReplyDeleteLove your white crochet. It looks so fine (in both senses).
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, I love autumn and can get a bit obsessed with photographing fungi I come across. And the fine cotton crochet is lovely too.
ReplyDeleteMust be disappointing about the rope cushion - I think £8 an hour is not much at all to charge. I bet you haven't included any/enough charge for the design time, marketing and all other business functions you have to carry out!
When I price I start with materials + £10 per hour for the making (that's to cover a share of all the other time), and then like most people fiddle it to fit what I think it will sell for!! This doesn't really allow for selling wholesale to shops though, so I just aim to sell direct otherwise I wouldn't make anything.
Pricing things can be so frustrating but you need to do what is right for you, hopefully you will find another outlet for your cushions.
ReplyDeleteLove the nature photo's, I'm forever taking pics on my walks, I especially love the spotty Fly Agaric :)
Jan x
Oh that's just a shame :-( I never charge an hourly rate coz that just wouldn't work - especially with a pet portrait that takes me days !!! It's always difficult to price stuff - especially in this economic climate too :-(
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the photos from your walk - marvelous :-D
Hugz
IKE in Greece xx
That's so frustrating about the cushion, its really hard isn't it. My feeling is that as hand makers we can't possibly compete with low priced mass produced item from overseas, instead i think its important to market your wares as handmade in Britain - there are people out there who understand that this is something worth paying for! Its good to know that your are standing firm on your prices, i wish more crafters would, it would make things better for all of us!
ReplyDeleteYour delicate crochet squares are beautiful :) x
What a shame about the cushion. Would it be worth you agreeing to their lower price if they agreed to buy more? I'd be hopeless making such decisions! I'm sure someone else will want to buy it at any cost x
ReplyDeleteSounds like a bit of a tough week *hugs*. Pricing things is so complex, it gave me a huge headache. The country walk looks like you had a lovely time.
ReplyDeleteThose fine crochet squares are beautiful, what patience!
ReplyDeletePricing is quite difficult but if you are including a decent amount for your time then the price will be likely to be reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThe way I look at it is there are so many shops out there all with different prices, some a huge amount different from each other. If they are all managing to sell, then there are still people out there who will pay a reasonable amount for our handmade items.
It's so tricky to balance time / materials / profit / affordability isn't it? I've found though that when people find something too expensive, it's often because the skill / uniqueness / time invested in the item isn't necessarily what's important to them - this isn't a criticism, just that the value they place on something isn't necessarily aligned with the market that you're aiming at, so don't despair! On a fun note, I've been meaning to have a go at one of these :D Rope crochet looks like a lot of fun! http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/08/15/daily-delight-mega-doily-rug/ Have good week! x
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame about the cushion. Their loss.... You must have the patience of a Saint to crochet such delicate pieces.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really in a position to advise about pricing as I don't sell items. However I would have thought it would be rather difficult to charge an hourly rate for things that require a lot of skill and time as it just won't be practical.
I came across something similar when I started creative writing. I was told you should always do it because you want to, not to make your fortune, as the hourly rate for a 100,000 word novel worked out something like 1p..... xx
Lovely crochet
ReplyDeleteYears ago I used to work for a designer and she used to work out how much cost of yarn and workers rate and then double it does this help with your pricing? jujus xx dont give up keep trying you'll get a decent rate and sales soon, happy hooking xx
ReplyDelete